


A Goat In The Mines

by Kratzor



Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Depression, Dissociation, Hearing Voices, Insanity, M/M, Shapes, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:16:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11971023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kratzor/pseuds/Kratzor
Summary: It's been a bad first week for Mae in Possum Springs. Sure, she's back to hanging with her pals just like the old days. But something is seriously wrong, not only is she having constant nightmares that keep getting worse and worse. There's also been a ghost following her around. But worst of all is, ever since that night she witnessed a kidnapping at Harfest. She's been hearing voices, and they keep getting louder.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: THIS STORY IS VERY DARK. I AM NOT KIDDING, THIS STORY IS DARKER THAN DARKNESS ITSELF. BELOVED CHARACTERS WILL BE HURT OR DIE LIKE IN GAME OF THRONES. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for being interested in reading this fanfiction (hopefully lol). Just know that this is my first fanfiction and it will probably be bad. If you have ideas on how to improve it, then please let me know in the comments. Ok, let's go.

Mae was lying in her bed, her laptop at her side. Her first couple days in Possum Springs had been all calm and chill, the only thing that had really had her down was the departure of Casey. Now she had witnessed a kidnapping performed by a ghost and no one believed her. Aunt mallcop had just brushed it off like it was nothing, and she was a police officer! Oh well, the cop always dies first.  Not even her friends seemed to take it as seriously as she was! And she would be lying if this didn't piss her off slightly. Oh well, at least they were trying to believe her. They were her friends after all. They were always understanding.

 

 _"They're not your friends."_ A silent voice in her mind whispered.

 

Oh yeah, that too. Ever since she witnessed the kidnapping at Harfest there had been a voice in her head. She didn't notice it at first, but now she could hear it clearly. And it was not saying nice things, weirdly enough however, she could communicate with the voice. She did look absolutely crazy while doing so however.

 

"God, will you just leave me alone already? I've got enough stupid things to worry about in my life." She responded, very annoyed at the random voice breaking into her nice thoughts. What the hell was it's deal? Was it just trying to piss her off? Because if that's the case, then congratulations voice, you have succeeded!

 

 _"Face it, they will leave you. They don't care about you, they only hang with you because they think your stupidity is funny. They couldn't give one less of a crap if the ghost kidnapped you..."_ The voice said, slightly louder now, as if it got pissed off by what Mae had just thought and said to it.

 

Mae could feel the anger brewing inside of her, it wasn't true! None of it was, yet she still felt like it still had a sliver of truth to it and the sometimes, the truth hurts.

 

"GOD WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP YOU EFFING-"

 

Suddenly, the computer binged. Mae jumped at the sound as her anger dissapeared immediately as she noticed it was a chat message from Gregg. The voice had gone silent, but she knew it would be back, whatever... Gregg might just be able to get her on better thoughts. If anyone could do that, it was Gregg.

 

**"Yo I looked up the historical society on the internet. It's real old but then they did big renovations."**

 

This peaked Mae's interests, what had Gregg uncovered? Perhaps it had something to do with crimes?

 

**"O rly"**

**"I mean, listen I'm not saying theres a ghost but old stuff that just got torn up seems like ghost central."**

 

Mae was a bit confused now, before none of her friends had believed her one bit. They just thought she was seeing things because of... "stress"? Pfft, what was there to be stressed about anyways? Just because she had just gotten back to Possum Springs? Jeez, she was 20 frickin' years old! She was pretty sure she knew what she saw was real. Unless, of course she was going crazy. Maybe she was, in fact it would explain the voice in her head... This random turnaround of Gregg mentioning ghost just seemed weird. She was very sure they only wanted to check out the places she found because they had nothing better to do. Or did the voice in her head get her to think that way? She wasn't sure about anything now.

 

 **"How so"** She ended up sending after giving it a bit of thought.

**"You're a ghost hanging out in an old house and then someone puts in a pool where you died or something."**

**"Haunted pools would be actually p scary."** She snickered at the thought.

**"I'm spooked. I'm going to bed."**

 

Mae laughed out loud at the conversation, even though she was having to deal with a weird voice in her head and a ghost. She realised Gregg had a good way of making her feel alot better about the whole thing, even if he didn't know all the details. Gregg rulez ok? She was about to close the computer when she noticed she had gotten messages from Bea and Angus as well. She decided to chat with them before hitting the sack.

 

 _At least I know all my friends got my back..._ She thought as she opened the message from Bea.

 

\--oOo--

 

Mae woke up the next morning with a headache. She had had one of those weird nightmares again and they came with the worst feeling afterwards. She just wanted to lie in bed forever, but she couldn't. She had plans to go ghost hunting with her friends and she was not about to let them down.

 

_"You don't need to try to let them down, whatever you do or say you always do so anyways."_

 

Ah, that voice. She had almost forgotten about it. But, she had more sense than to listen to what it has to say. Just better to just ignore it for now. She got out of bed and stretched, reaching for her boots in the process. Once she had them on, she opened the door to her room and went down the stairs. As always, she found her mom in the kitchen. After a bit of nice chatting, she said goodbye and headed out the door. Once she was outside, she ran into town. Chatting with Selmers and Lori. She also made a stop at the Ol' Pickaxe. As soon as she walked through the door Beatrice looked up at her with her generally bored expression, the one she always wore when she were working. It made Mae sad to see her friend like this, and she once again felt sorry for leaving Bea to become like this while she went to college.

 

"Hey Bea!" Mae said, trying to hide the guilt in her voice.

"Hey mae." Bea answered, nonchalantly. "I think I'm gonna burn this place down." She then said.

"Oh cool!" Mae responded, not entirely sure why Bea would want to do that. She followed it up with: "But also, maybe it might have consequenses?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.

At this, Bea took her cigarette out of her mouth and looked into the ceiling. Crossing her arms in thought. "We could take the insurance money and like, not do this."

"What if you get caught?" Mae asked, the idea still looked too dumb to work. "I saw a show where they caught someone doing that." She added.

Bea stared at her in thought for a second, before talking. "...You're going to burn this place down for me."

 

This caught Mae off-guard. Sure, it could be considered a joke, it should be considered a joke. But for some reason the way Bea said it, it sounded like she meant it. And that smirk on her face, is it a friendly, joking kind of smirk, or a smirk that said "I'm serious, do it." Suddenly, Mae's headache increased in intensity. She let out a yelp as she clutched her head in her paws, the headache was much worse now. It was so bad she could barely think about anything else but the pain. She saw Bea's smirk drop into a concerned frown, she then heard the voice again.

 

**"Yes, why don't you burn this place down? It was always worthless anyways, nothing bad could come out of it. And of course, even Bea knows it's most fitting for the person they call "Killer" to burn the place down."**

 

The voice was much louder now, practically screaming in her mind as the headache grew even worse. Mae felt like her head was splitting like a watermelon. She could hear Bea's voice, she sounded concerned. But she couldn't hear what she was saying over the ringing in her ears, she hunched over in pain as she saw Bea jump the counter and rush to her aid. "No, I can't let her see me like this." She thought. Before Bea reached her, she stood up and  muttered a quick "I have to go." before turning around and running out of the store. She could hear Bea yelling her name, but she didn't care, she couldn't care. She needed to get out of there. She ran towards the Video Outpost "Too", but when she was only a few meters from the door she changed her mind. She didn't want to put her problems on Angus, he would be very understanding. But she knew he only did it out of pity, not out of worry. She felt guilt for even thinking about disturbing Angus at work. She started running towards the Snack Falcon instead, maybe Gregg could help her? He always knew what to say in situations like these, right? They know each other well, he'll know what to do right? God, she didn't want this. She didn't want everything to turn into shapes, she didn't want to accidentally hurt someone. But the closer Mae got to the Snack Falcon, the worse the headache got. Until she was right outside the convenience store, the headache was getting so bad she started screaming in pain. She tried to will herself to reach out and open the door, but her body just wouldn't respond. She could see shapes at the edges of her visions, and she was scared. God, she had never been so scared in her life. What the hell was happening to her? The voice kept screaming in her head, one simple phrase.

 

**"All your fault. All your fault. All your fault. All your fault."**

 

It was right! The voice was right, this is all her fault! She's overreacting and effing everything up again! She hunched over once again. She could see all the looks she was getting from bystanders. Some looked concerned, others just looked confused. But they were all staring at _her_ , of course they were. She was the laughing stock right? "Killer", there was always something with her. She wanted to speak up, wanted to say something, tell them to mind their own business. However, all her ability to talk faded as every bystander turned into shapes. Lifeless, stupid shapes, she looked forward through the Snack Falcon's door as her vision blurred. The last thing she saw before losing consiousness was Gregg, the only thing that wasn't a shape. Running out of the store to help her.

 

**Then everything went black.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was the first chapter. Again, if you have ideas on how I can improve it, let me know.


	2. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After passing out, Mae finds herself in yet another nightmare. Yet, it's nothing like the other ones she's had. In fact, it's much different and it just doesn't make sense to her. Not only that, she also finds herself... strangely intrigued by it.

Darkness was all around her, darkness was all she could see, all she could feel. She wouldn't even know she was awake if she couldn't move around. She waved her hand in front of her face, expecting to see it even in the pure darkness around her. But, to her fear, there was nothing, just darkness. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. She wanted to scream, but no sounds came out of her mouth. Was she dead? Had she finally passed on? Was this what being in hell was like? She wanted to plead, beg for forgiveness for any wrong-doing in her life. She wanted to go back to Possum Springs. 

Suddenly, after what felt like hours of crying without tears, a light shone at the end of the darkness. She focused on the light, it was dim, but it actually made her see through the extreme darkness around her. She reached out for it, as it appeared to come closer it grew brighter. She could  _finally_  see through the darkness, and little by little she saw something in front of her. Whatever it was, it was radiating the light for her to see. But even though it wasn't as dark as before, she still coudln't make out any features of the figure in front of her. She opened her mouth, and only now could she talk. 

"Um, hello?" She said cautiously. 

The figure didn't answer, of course. Instead, it just stared at her. Even though Mae couldn't make out where the figure's eyes were, she could tell. It was judging her. 

"Hey! Who are you? What the hell is this place? Did you call me here?" Mae almost yelled, she was  _really_  not in the mood to play games. She wanted to know where she was. Was this a dream, or was she really dead? She had to know. 

"Answer me, damn you! TALK!" She screamed. Why wasn't it saying anything? It called her here, right? So why wasn't it saying anything. Why wasn't it showing her something? Why was it just...  _standing_ there? 

After what felt like several minutes spent just staring at each other, the creature finally spoke up. Or, more precisely, it started to sing. But it wasn't like any singing Mae had heard before, it was different, much different. Not only did she not understand the language the figure was speaking, it sounded alien. She couldn't even make a guess of any human language that could sound like...  _that_ _._    
 

She was scared shitless, but at the same time, she also kind of liked it. It felt soothing and she almost felt like she knew what it was saying to her, even if she couldn't make out the words. She got all sorts of ideas in her head. Thoughts she didn't think she could process, and while the figure in front of her was singing, she knew  _everything_. She had memory of everything that had happened in the world, she could feel anything anyone had ever felt at once. But when the figure finally stopped singing, and the amazing feeling went away, she felt empty. However, at the same time, she still felt like a brand new person, like she had just found herself. 

Suddenly, the figure moved. It swung it's head around and suddenly, a vision appeared in front of Mae. She could see a mine, out in the woods. She didn't understand where it was or what it meant, but as soon as she thought about it, she knew where it was. Like the location of it just popped into her head, just like that. It was beyond the Food Donkey, a small way into the woods. She could find it, she needed to find it. That's why she was there, right? That's what the creature wanted to show her. The vision disappeared as the creature came into view again. 

"You want me to go there? To the mine in the woods?" Mae asked. 

She wasn't sure, but she thought she could see the creature move in a movement closely resembling a nod. She nodded back in confirmation. She didn't know what she was gonna find there, if she was gonna find anything at all. But what she knew, was that she was called there for a reason. And she needed to see why the creature wanted her there. The creature turned around and started walking away, the light following, until it was only a dim light again. She heard a voice. 

 **"** **You** **know** **your** **fate** **,** **you** **know** **why** **you** **were** **called** **here** **.** **Embrace** **it** **"**  it said. 

Before she had time to ask the voice what it meant, her body suddenly felt heavy beneath her. It was like a weight of one hundred kilograms had been dumped on her shoulders, and even though she wasn't standing on any solid ground, she felt like she needed to lie down. Suddenly, she felt extremely tired, exhausted. She felt like she just wanted to sleep forever. Her vision blurred as she slipped out of consiousness. However, it didn't last long. As she could feel herself leaving the dream, she awoke on the sofa in Gregg and Angus' apartment. 

After waking up, she yawned and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. She slowly sat up, noticing she still had a bit of a headache. She remembered everything of what had happened, though after she did she regretted she had. She shuddered as she looked around, the apartment seemed empty but she could hear it's inhabitants sleeping in their bedroom. Angus' snoring could be heard throughout the whole apartment and now that she realised how loud it really was, she wondered why it took her so much time to notice. She sighed as she laid down again, that meant she had been knocked out for at least 10 hours. And Gregg had probably convinced Angus to let her stay. She knew Angus, he was a good friend and Mae knew he liked her as much as she liked him. But still, she also knew Gregg and Angus was going to Bright Harbor. And her being there was not helping them in moving there, if anything she was slowing down their progress by taking up space in their apartment. She decided it was time to get up. But before she managed to step down from the sofa, the voice once again spoke up. 

 **"** **You** **are** **just a** **useless** **,** **good** **for** **nothing** **idiot.** **Can't** **do** **anything** **but** **mess** **up** **your** **friend's** **life** **,** **how** **can** **you** **even** **live** **with** **yourself** **?"** The voice shouted at her, louder than it had ever been before. This time, however, it wasn't coupled with a horrific headache. So at least she saw  _that_  as a plus. 

Mae had no good response to that, she knew how right the voice was. She was useless, never did anything right and just ruined things for others. Maybe it would be better if she just disappeared. 

"Good question..." She answered. Rubbing the back of her head, the headache slowly growing in intensity. She thought about what she had dreamt of, the darkness, the figure singing to her, that mine... 

 **"** **You** **'** **re** **gonna** **go** **find** **the** **mine** **,** **aren't** **you** **?** **"**  The voice suddenly added. 

Jeez, that thing really could read her mind.  She had just thought about the mine, hadn't she? The voice really was creepy. She checked the clock on the wall in the living room.  **3:43 AM**. She decided that a trip to the mine would go unnoticed to anyone she knew at this time. She'd like to keep it that way, any explanation she would try to make up would just sound insane. "Yeah, you know that mine in the woods? I went there because a figure told me to do so in my dreams." Not a good idea. 

"Better now than never, right?" She said to the voice, it didn't respond. 

With a sigh, she finally climbed out of the sofa and started walking towards the apartment door. But right as she was gonna reach for it, she heard a noise from the bedroom. It wasn't Angus snoring, it sounded like someone getting up. Probably Gregg, since Angus was still snoring in the background. At first, Mae thought about rushing out the door quickly before Gregg stumbled out of the bedroom. But she decided it would look worse if he got back and she was just gone, what if he got worried? Instead, she turned away from the door and towards the bedroom. She could see a figure moving in the darkness of the bedroom, there were no windows in the bedroom so when the lights are shut off you can't see a thing in there. When the figure stumbled out of the darkness into the slightly lighter living room, she could instanly see that it was Gregg. He stopped in the middle of his movements when he spotted her. But only for half a second as he raised his arms and started wiggling them around. Beaming with happiness and excitement. 

"Mae! You're awake!" He said, not as loud as she was expecting. Though he probably didn't wanna wake his boyfriend. 

"Um, yeah. Hi!" Mae answered, rubbing her arm.  

Suddenly, she was tackled by the fox in front of her as he put her in his tight embrace. 

"Oh my gosh, dude! I was so worried about you! I thought you were dead for a minute! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" He spluttered out in one breath. He almost sounded like he was gonna start crying from the tone of his voice. 

"Hey, dude. Don't worry about me! I'm fine, look!" Mae said, trying to comfort her friend. 

"Are you sure, dude? You didn't look well at all! You were just about to enter the Snack Falcon when you just started screaming. You talked to yourself too! Saying something about how it wasn't your fault or something..." He answered, looking down and kicking at the floor in the apartment. 

Mae, once again shuddered at the thought of what had happened just a few hours ago. What the hell even was that? Did the ghost make that happen? She snapped out of her train of thought when Gregg waved a hand in front of her face. 

"Umm, yeah... that was kinda weird wasn't it?" Mae said, rubbing the back of her neck. 

Gregg nodded slowly, a worried expression in his features. 

"But don't worry, I'm fine! Really, I just needed the rest was all. I was just about to leave actually-" 

"WHAT? No, dude. Don't worry, you can stay. I already talked to Angus about it, he was completely fine with you sleeping here! I can't let you walk home in the condition you're in." Gregg yelled, interrupting her as he quickly put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her dead in her tracks. 

"You sure, dude?" Mae asked. 

"Doubly sure!" Gregg exclaimed happily, throwing his arms in the air. 

Mae thought for a second before responding. She could always go to the mine tomorrow, right? She wasn't in a hurry, maybe Gregg could keep her company. Maybe they could check it out together after his shift was over? She could probably make up a good excuse for him to follow her there, probably. She decided that probably would be cooler than going out there on her own.  

"Alright, I'll stay until morning." Mae finally said. "But after you and Angus leave for work, I'll sleep in my own house. Deal?" Mae continued, offering Gregg a handshake. 

She saw the happiness in his eyes as he took her hand and shook it. But she could still see a slight hint of worry in his eyes as he spoke.

"Deal! But you better eat breakfast with us too, Angus makes the best bacon and eggs." Gregg said, finally letting go of her hand. 

Normally, Mae wouldn't like waking up that early. She almost never ate breakfast anyways, but she couldn't refuse her best friend's offer. 

"Then you make sure to wake me up. To be honest, I still feel a bit tired. I'm going back to sleep." Mae said, walking over to the couch and laying down. 

"Alright, dude! Me and Angus will make sure you're awake before we start eating." Gregg assured her, as he walked back to the bedroom. 

Mae smiled and shut her eyes, ready to go back to sleep. 

"Goodnight, Gregg." She said. 

"Godnight, Mae. Sleep well." He responded before he slipped into the bedroom and carefully closed the door. 

The room was returned to a calm silence and Mae could feel sleep returning to her quickly. But just as she was about to fall back into her dreamland, the voice spoke again. 

 **"I**   **hope**   **you**   **keep**   **what** **you**   **promise** **, Mae** **Borowski** **. The black** **goat** **doesn't** **like**   **waiting** **."**

Mae was about to question what the voice meant, but she realised she was way too tired to butt heads with it. So instead, she just fell asleep. 

She dreamt of the figure singing to her again. She liked the singing, it calmed her. While it sang to her, she felt no emotions, no pain, nothing. Yet she still liked it. 

The figure kept singing until she was woken up by an excited Gregg. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright then, second chapter done. Cool beans, I don't really have a schedule for writing or uploading I just kinda do it in my freetime. So sometimes, the chapters might get released often, other times they may be released at a slower pace. But I try to upload as fast as I can! See you next chapter!


	3. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae gets woken up early by Gregg for breakfast. As her friends are worried for her, the voice gives her some "great" advice about who to trust...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, chapter 3 is finished. This chapter is mostly just filler, but important stuff also happens in it. To be honest, I didn't really know where I was going with the story when I started it. I'm just slowly but surely building a plan on how I want it to go. Maybe I should try sitting down and just figure out which direction I want the story to take. Thanks for the kudos by the way, it really inspires me to write more! Welp, that's it. See you next chapter!

**Chapter** **3:**  

After what had felt like hours of the figure singing to her, the figure finally stopped. Mae once again, felt empty as the figure stopped singing to her. She wanted to feel what she felt when it sang forever. This did not happen as the figure once again repeated what it said last time Mae woke up. This time however, the sentence was slightly changed from last time. 

 **"** **You**   **know**   **what**   **you**   **have** **to do,** **you**   **know**   **why**   **you** **must do it. Do it** **now** **."**  

Once again, Mae's body felt heavy and she suddenly felt exhausted as her vision blurred. 

"Wakey wakey sleepyhead! Breakfast is served!" Gregg hollered, frantically shaking Mae awake. This wasn't the awakening Mae wanted, not that she didn't appreciate Gregg's excitement over her being there. She just wanted more sleep, yet she remembered the promise she had made for him as she slowly opened her eyes and spoke. 

"Ugh, I'm awake!" Mae sleepily yelled. 

"Then get up! Angus is almost done with the bacon, dude! You gotta try some!" He said excitedly. She gently pushed Gregg of off her, stretched and yawned. Damn, she was tired. Had she not slept at all last night? As Gregg walked over to the table to lay it, she glanced at the clock on the wall. It read  **6:45** , Mae was not really used to being out of bed this early. 

"Good morning, Mae." Another, more hushed voice said. Mae sat up to see Angus, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Wearing his usual getup, Mae could hear the sounds of sizzling pans and could feel the familiar smell of bacon coming from the kitchen.  

"Good morning, big guy." She answered, with a smile. Angus returned the smile as he turned around and got back to preparing breakfast. Mae yawned and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes as she got up. She looked over to the table, Gregg had just finished setting it and was on his way to the kitchen to check up on Angus. Mae walked over to the table and took a seat. Watching the couple in the kitchen. Gregg was hugging Angus from behind and kissing his cheek while Angus chuckled and tried to focus on the cooking. 

 **"** **You** **will** **never get** **such** **affection** **from** **anyone** **."**  The voice said. 

"Shut. Up." Mae muttered, silently so the others didn't hear her. They would think she was crazy if they found out she had a voice in her head. Then again, she probably was. She snapped out of her train of thought as a platter of bacon and eggs were put out on the table along with other things like milk, orange juice, toast, butter etcetera. 

"Hey, Mae. You alright? You looked like you zoned out for a second." Angus said as he sat down. 

"What? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just a bit tired is all." Mae answered, looking down at the table scratching the back of her head. When she looked back up at Angus he didn't say anything, he just looked at her expectantly. He still wore an expression of worry, as he looked Mae in the eyes. Like the answer she gave hadn't been good enough. "But don't worry, big guy! I'm fine, really!" She answered, not wanting her friend to worry. 

"You sure, Mae?" Gregg said, sitting on a chair beside her. Usually, he would've sat leaned back on the chair. But now he sat straight as a stick, looking tense as he waited for an answer. Mae looked at both of her friends in confusion, twitching her ear. What was this about? What did they want her to say? That's when she remembered what happened the other day. She had almost forgot the panic attack induced by the headache, but now she could understand why her friends were worried about her. 

"Yeah, I'm sure. It was just a headache was all, it's pretty much gone now." She answered, trying to throw a comforting smile to both of her friends. This excuse, however, didn't work as well as Mae thought it would as Gregg almost jumped out of his chair as he leaned in closer to Mae when he started talking. 

"' _Just a_ _headache_ _'_? Mae, you were screaming like somebody was sawing your leg off! It couldn't have been a simple headache! Simple headaches don't do THAT!" Gregg yelled, almost screaming. Mae flinched at his sudden outburst, not ready for Gregg to yell like that. He noticed this, and covered his mouth in shock. Like he, himself wasn't expecting to burst out like that. Even Angus looked shocked. After what felt like hours of silence, Gregg finally said, "Sorry, dude. Didn't mean to scream at you. Me, Angus and Bea are just worried about you." After he was done, Angus chimed in. 

"It's not that we don't believe you, maybe it was just a headache. But, if it was something else, we would all like to know. Like Gregg said, we're worried and if something is wrong, we can help. You don't need to be scared of asking for help, Mae. We'd be happy to help in anyway we can." Angus said, leaning on the table giving Mae an assuring smile. Mae didn't quite know what to respond, it seemed her first excuse of blaming the headache hadn't worked. So maybe, she would have to come up with a new one? Or maybe, she could tell them the truth? They are her friends, right? They'll understand, right? Mae was just about to talk when the voice came back, shouting at her even louder than before. 

 **"** **You** **really** **think** **they'll** **just** **take** **the information** **that** **way** **?** **You** **really** **think** **they** **won't** **just** **send** **you** **off to an** **insane** **aylum** **if** **you** **tell** **them** **you** **have** **a voice in** **your** **head** **?** **You** **think** **you** **can** **trust** **them** **,** **but** **you** **can't** **."** The voice said,  **"** **First** **thing** **they'll** **do** **if** **you** **tell** **them** **is call the** **people** **that** **will** **come get** **you** **."**  

Mae felt the headache come back once again and she winced in pain. She knew it probably was wrong, it was probably lying. But some part of her still believed it, even if she didn't want to. It felt like it was right in some sense. As she thought of this, the headache died down as she sighed in relief. 

"Mae?" Mae looked up to see Angus and Gregg, still wearing the worried expressions. However, this time, they looked about ready to bolt out of their chairs to her aid at any second. They could probably see was in pain, but she did her best to act as normal as possible as she spoke. 

"Don't worry about me, guys. I appreciate that you both want to help me so much, but unless you have pills against migranes. There's really nothing I need help with." She said, though upon seeing the sceptical expressions on their faces, she added, "I promise!". This seemed to be good enough for Gregg as he looked towards Angus and shrugged, Angus looked a bit more sceptical, but still also decided to let it go. 

"Alright! Let's eat!" Gregg finally said, picking up a piece of toast from one of the platters. Mae looked over the food on the table, and finally seeing the food in detail, it did look delicious. Then she realised how hungry she actually felt. 

"Alright! Let's dig in!" Mae said, as she used her fork to pick up a piece of bacon. Angus picked up the carton of orange juice and poured it in everyone's glasses. Mae enjoyed the breakfast alot, not only because she was hungry, more so than she usually was in the morning. But also, because the food was sooo good. The bacon and eggs especially, she loved them.  _They're_ _almost_ _better_ _than_ _tacos!_  She thought, before quickly changing her mind. The bacon and eggs were good, but NOTHING beats tacos. After about 10 minutes, Angus glanced at the clock and stood up from his chair. 

"Welp, time for me to head to work, kids!" He said, "Bye Mae, bye bug." He said as he waved goodbye to Mae and gave Gregg a quick kiss on the lips. He put on his hat and started walking towards the door. 

"Bye, big guy!" Mae said, waving towards the bear as he left the apartment. 

"See you later, Cap'n!" Gregg said, as Angus closed the door. Wrapping the apartment in peaceful silence. Mae leaned back in her chair and patted her stomach, she had never been this full before, especially not at this time. 

"Wow, I'm full. You were right about Angus' cooking Gregg, it was fantastic!" Mae said, still leaning far back in her chair. Gregg giggled as he responded. 

"Yeah, what did you expect? Angus' cooking is always awesome!" He said as he then laughed and leaned in to rest his arms on the table. "Too bad you didn't choke on your food." Gregg said, grinning at her.  _Oh it is on!_  Mae thought as she leaned in on her chair, pointing her finger towards Gregg. 

"Too bad you didn't burn your mouth while eating  the freshly made toast!" She responded with a smug grin. She could see Gregg's eyes light up as she joined in on their signature game. Gregg didn't even think before delivering his next line, he had planned this, the cheater! 

"Too bad you didn't blow up from all the food you ate!" He said, laughing as he pointed towards Mae's stomach. Savouring Mae's anger as she glared at him for the hateful comment. She tried to come up with a comeback as hateful as his, but she couldn't. So she went for a simpler one instead. 

"Too bad you didn't get food poisoning!" She yelled, leaning in even closer towards Gregg who was still laughing. This went on for another 5 minutes, until they were both dying of laughter from their own witty remarks and comments. Eventually, when their laughter died down. Gregg glanced at the clock and stood up. 

"Well, Mae. It's been fun, but it's time for me to head to the Snack Falcon. I'll see you later, okay dude?" He said as he started walking towards the door. Mae sat up, wiping tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. 

"Ok dude, but shouldn't I follow you out? You need to lock the door, right?" She asked. As Angus usually would comment on Gregg not locking the door, she wouldn't want to cause drama between them. Especially not for a little thing as a locked door. 

"Nah, don't worry about it dude! I usually forget to, but nothing ever happens because of it." He said, turning around to look at Mae, who was still on the floor after her laughing fit. He picked the key out of his pocket and threw it to Mae, who barely caught it. "If you want to be on the safe side, you can lock it yourself." He said as he glanced on the clock again. 

"Ok dude, have a good day at work. I'll drop by later, ok?" Mae said, getting up of the floor. She didn't really know why he would entrust the keys on her, as she usually lost things like that. But, she didn't question her friend's good intentions. 

"Sure dude! See you later, Mae! Oh, and by the way. There's headache pills in the bathroom, in case the headache gets particularly bad. Alright?" He said, opening the door halfway and looking back at Mae, who just gave him a thumbs up. He smiled and returned the thumbs up before walking out and closing the door behind him. Mae walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch. Ugh, she was feeling terrible. She still had a headache and now she was making her friends worry too? God, she was a terrible friend. The only thing missing was the voice in her head. 

 **"** **Alone** **again** **,** **huh** **?"**  As if on que, the voice spoke up. However, the first thing Mae noticed was that the voice was different. It was a lot more calm, no longer screaming at her. 

"Not completely alone, you're still here." She said dryly. 

 **"Oh,** **but** **I'm** **not real.** **I'm** **just in** **your** **head** **."**  The voice stated nonchalantly, as if it was the most normal thing ever. 

"I really am going mad, aren't I?" Mae asked, the voice didn't answer. She sighed and stood up from the couch, she winced as her head started to hurt again. She started walking towards the bathroom as the headache grew in intensity. When she was in the bathroom, her head hurt alot. Not as much as it had yesterday, but it still really hurt. She opened the medical cabinet and started looking for the pills.  _Cough_ _syrup_ _,_ _Hydrocortisone_ _, band-aids Ah!_  Finally, she took out an orange bottle of aspirin. 

"Hopefully this helps." She said, mostly to herself. When the voice's uuneeded input came through. 

 **"It** **won't** **, trust** **me.** **"** It said, Mae chose to ignore it as she opened the bottle and took a handful of the pills. She put them in her mouth and swallowed, instead of feeling relieved like she expected she felt nauseous, the headache taking a toll on her. She barely had enough time to throw open the toilet seat before she violently threw up. Vomiting all the contents in her stomach into the toilet bowl. She keept heaving into the toilet until nothing more would come out. She closed the toilet seat and flushed, she then wiped the puke from her mouth. 

 **"I** **told** **you** **it** **wouldn't** **work** **..."**  The voice said,  **"** **Maybe** **you** **should** **listen to** **me** **next** **time** **?"**  Now the voice was really changing. Mae looked at herself in the mirror, she looked horrible. It was to be expected, from a trash mammal like her. She pointed towards her mirror counterpart as she spoke, as if the mirror version of her was the voice. It sure felt that way. 

"What do you want with me, huh?" She yelled, "Why won't you just leave me alone?" She had to resist every urge to smash the mirror into the ground, it wouldn't help and it wasn't her mirror to destroy anyways. Finally, after what felt like hours, the voice spoke. 

 **"** **You** **are** **forgetting** **something** **you** **have** **to do, Mae."**  It said. This puzzled Mae, something she had to do? What the hell did it mean? Right when she had that thought an image flashed in her head, it made her flinch and back into the wall of the bathroom. Even though it only flashed for half a second, she saw what it was. 

"The mine." She said. 

She waited for a confirmation from the voice, but when it didn't come. She decided that's what it meant, as she got out of the bathroom and walked quickly to the door out of the apartament. As she closed the door, she remembered to lock it and made herself a mental note to give Gregg the key back before his shift ended. Then, she started walking. Past the Food Donkey, past the fence where she witnessed a kidnapping and into the woods. The trip was going smoothly. Mae was worried she was gonna get lost while walking past the trees and bushes, even though it still was light out. However, it seemed she had remembered the path she was shown in her old dream well.

As she could feel her feet practically walking the whole way on their own. At one point, she walked past a well, which she could've sworn she had seen before. Maybe in a dream? She wasn't entirely sure. All the walking was eventually making her sweaty. Fuck, she was really out of shape. She stopped in a small clearing and looked up towards the sun, it was high in the sky with only a couple clouds around it. It wasn't really even that hot outside, it was pretty chilly. But the sun was still very annoying. Finally, reaching the top of a small hill. She saw it, she saw what had been shown to her the day she had the violent panic attack. What that singing figure had wanted her to go to. Down the steep hill it laid. 

 **The** **mine.**


	4. The Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae meets a familiar friend at the mine, and finds something out about the voice she has in her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, chapter 4! Wooohoooo! I'm sorry for the long wait, life has sort of caught up with me. (school and stuff) I've also been really lazy lately. I hope the wait was worth it. I'll try to have the fifth chapter done sooner, but we'll just have to see. Enjoy the chapter!

"Wow, there really is a mine." Mae mumbled as she cautiously took a step forward and looked down the hill. The side of the hill pointing towards the mine was covered in dirt, it was the fastest but least safe way to get down but Mae didn't care about safety. She took another step forward and started to slide down the hill. However, she was still careful not to bump into any sharp rocks on her descent down, slowing down as she started reaching the bottom of the hill to not hit the ground with much speed. When she finally reached the bottom of the hill, her clothes were covered in dirt.

 **"** **What** **did** **you** **expect** **?"**  The voice finally said as Mae tried to dust herself off, quickly realising it was futile. Even though she had managed to get some of the dirt off her, there was still some hard patches that were very hard to get out. She sighed, giving up as she instead looked towards the mine in front of her.

"I don't know. I mean, I thought the dream would mean nothing. That would've made sense, right?" She said, looking down and kicking at the ground with her boots. "I thought I really was just crazy and there wouldn't be a mine. But, it turns out, the dream was... real?" Mae didn't know what to make of it, it just didn't make sense for her dream to know about a mine she didn't know of. Maybe it wasn't a dream, maybe it was more a vision?

 **"** **He** **called** **you** **here** **,** **you** **can't** **keep** **him** **waiting** **."**  The voice responded. Not really the answer Mae was looking for... at all. She sighed and decided to not try to argue with the voice, there was no use doing that. Instead, she started inspecting the mine. The entrance to the mine was big, just looked like a giant hole in a mountain leading into darkness. There were support beams on either side of the entrance, Mae could see there was a pattern of them  that continued into the darkness.

"So, what now?" She asked aloud, hoping the voice had an answer for her. An answer she wanted to hear. When the voice took a long time to respond she started walking even closer to the mine. When she one step away from entering, the voice finally spoke up.

 **"** **He** **told** **you** **,** **didn't** **he** **?"**  The voice said with a hint of confusion in it. This struck Mae as odd, the voice had only spoken with a voice devoid of emotion so far. It didn't make sense for it to not do that now, right?

"He never did, just said I had to find the mine. Nothing else really." She said, peeking into the mine, trying to get a good look inside. This however, didn't do her any good. The mine was way too dark.  _A_ _lmost_ _unnaturally_ _dark_ she thought to herself. She shuddered at the thought of having to go down into the mine and silently prayed that the voice wouldn't tell her to go down there.

 **"** **Then** **you** **better** **make a mental note** **of** **where** **this** **mine** **is.** **You'll** **have** **to** **remember** **it for** **next** **time** **."** The voice said. Mae had hoped the voice would answer all the questions she had in her head, but instead she was only left with new ones.

"What do you mean 'for next time'?" Mae said, "I don't want there to be a next time! I don't want to be here at all!" She screamed. She just wanted to go home, sleep and wake up and hang with her friends, anything other than what she was doing here. She hoped to get a response from the voice, but after about one minute of waiting, she understood it had once again gone quiet.

"Answer me, dammit!" She yelled. She waited a bit more before sighing as she sat down on the ground, hugging her knees still staring at the mine. She really didn't want to be there any longer than she had to, but she just didn't feel like moving at all. She sat there for at least another minute before finally deciding it was time to leave. As she stood up however, she heard a voice behind her.

"Hey mae!" The voice wasn't loud, and she recognised it. But it still made her jump out of her skin as she spun around to meet whoever the voice belonged to. She turned around to see Germ, standing a few feet behind her with his hands in his pockets. How did she not hear him sneak up behind her like that? She looked up at the dirt wall he stood in front of.  _There's_ _no_ _way_ _he_ _slid down_ _without_ _me_ _noticing, right?_  Mae thought to herself. She looked around for any other way down but couldn't see any obvious, quiet ones. She looked back to Germ, who still patiently stood in the same spot, still with his hands in his pockets. Mae finally caught her breath and spoke back to the bird.

"Jesus, Germ! You can't just sneak up on others like that!" She said, clutching her chest with her paw. Her heart was still beating fast but it was slowing as she calmed herself down.

"Sorry 'bout that." Germ said. However, his voice didn't change to a tone of forgiveness, neither did his face. He just always wore that same expression, it rarely changed at all.

"Why are you even down here?" Mae asked, pointing at the ground beneath them. It was only after the scentence left her that she understood why he probably had come.

"I heard someone yelling so I came to investigate, didn't expect to find you here." He said, "What are you doing here?" He asked her back.  _I_ _really_ _should_ _have_ _expected_ _someone_ _to come_ _running_ _, the_ _way_ _I_ _was_ _screaming_ _._  She thought as she twitched her ear nervously.

"Umm, I was just out for a walk in the woods and I saw this mine. So I thought, 'Hey! Why not investigate this cool mine!' Then, you came in and scared the shit out of me!" She said, pointing an accusing finger at him. He shrugged before looking around, like he was searching for something. This went on for a few moments before he finally spoke.

"Soo, you out here alone?" He asked, looking at Mae questionably.  _What_ _the hell kind_ _of_ _question_ _is_ _that_ _?_ _What_ _does_ _he_ _think_ _?_  Mae thought, glaring at Germ still slightly pissed off that he scared her so bad earlier.

"Yeah, I'm here alone! Who else would I be out here with?" She asked, throwing her arms high in the air as she spoke. Germ just kept staring at her with the same indifferent expression. For some reason, this annoyed Mae. She didn't know why, but something about the way he was looking at her didn't sit well.

"Well, I heard alot of yelling and you're here on your own so..." He finally said, "The voice I heard kinda sounded like you, who were you talking with if you were on your own?" He finished, shrugging again. Mae hadn't thought of a good answer to this question before hand. All her anger quickly disappearing as she started to come up with an excuse.

"Ummmmm, well, you know. I was just, uuuuh talking to myself!" Mae spluttered as fast she could, hoping it sounded more believable than she felt it had. Germ just kept staring at her with his blank expression for a while before speaking again.

"So you were yelling at yourself?" He asked, with an almost scary, blank voice. Mae tried to come up with an excuse, but nothing would work. She groaned as she gave up trying to come up with a believable excuse. She wanted to tell him about the voice in her head, but she knew he either wouldn't believe her or think she was crazy.

"Whatever! Don't believe me! She yelled at the bird, walking past him. "I don't care! I'm getting out of here!" She started climbing up the dirt wall, using the rocks as stepstones to avoid sliding down again.

"Need any help?" Germ asked behind her, still standing at the same spot by the dirt slope.

"No, thank you! I'm fine." Mae said as she finally reached the top of the hill. She instantly started running down the hill again, towards town.  _That_ _was_ _really_ _fucking_ _close_ _,_ _he_ _almost_ _caught_ _on!_  She thought as she ran at full speed through the forest, she didn't know why she was still running. She just didn't feel safe walking for some reason, maybe it was because it was getting dark?

 **"** **Talking** **to** **yourself** **,** **really** **?"**  The voice said suddenly, causing Mae to lose her balance and almost trip. She quickly regained it however.

"Yeah! That was the most logical answer, right?" Mae yelled, "Unless you wanted me to mention the fucking voice in my head!" She ducked under a hanging branch and jumped over a log. Still running at high speed, her legs started aching and her chest felt tight. She swore she heard footsteps close behind her as she ran, but everytime she turned around to check, there was nothing. Her body was telling her to stop, but she didn't want to. She needed to get as far away from that mine as possible.

 **"** **Any** **excuse** **could've** **been** **better** **than** **that** **, to be** **honest** **..."** The voice said. Mae could feel the headache come back once again as she winced and slowed down slightly, pushing a paw against her forehead.

"Just shut up, already! Stop judging me!" She yelled between gasps as she jumped over a stump in the ground. To her surprise, the voice didn't speak again. It remained silent the whole way back to town, the headache even calmed down.  _Ha,_ _not so_ _though_ _now_ _._ Mae thought to herself, not caring if the voice could hear her thoughts. Reaching town, she finally stopped as she bent down with her hands on her knees. Breathing heavily. After a few moments of catching her breath, she finally stood up straight. Looking around, she realised how dark it really had gotten over time. She took her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. It read  **14** **:43 PM**. She had really been out for a quite a long time. She moved to put her phone back in her pocket, but stopped when she felt something else in there. She took it out and noticed it was Gregg and Angus' apartment key, it reminded her that she and Gregg told each other they were gonna meet up later.  _Hopefully_ _he_ _won't_ _mind_ _that_ _I'm_ _a bit late..._  She thought as she started heading towards the Snack Falcon.

As she started getting close to the Snack Falcon entrance her mind flashed back to the other day, when she had her random breakdown due to that headache. Since then she had constantly felt the headache in the back of her mind, sometimes it stayed weak and she barely noticed it. But sometimes, it suddenly got stronger which often happened when the voice spoke to her. That was proof she wasn't crazy, right? If the voice was causing the headaches then that would mean it wasn't only in her head, wouldn't it? Maybe? She wasn't sure, maybe the headaches were just perfectly timed and she really was crazy. She groaned loudly, if this continued she would surely go crazy for real if she wasn't already. Maybe bash some kid's brains in again? Live up to the nickname the town had given her, the  **killer**  of Possum Springs. She snapped out of her train of thought when it started heading that direction, she didn't wanna think about that. That softball game was different, she couldn't control it back then. It wouldn't happen again, she would make sure of that. She finally saw the Snack Falcon in the distance, as she sighed in relief. Hopefully, Gregg would still be waiting for her and hadn't run off to do something else. She wouldn't blame him if he had, however. As she reached out for the handle of the entrance , she saw Gregg through the glass in the door. He saw her and waved, she waved back, as she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Mae!" Gregg said, "You finally came!" He raised his arms in the air as soon as the cat entered the store. 

"Hey, Gregg! Sorry for coming so late, I had some stuff I had to take care of." Mae said, feeling bad about making Gregg wait for her.

"Like what?" Gregg asked, lowering his arms but still smiling. Mae hadn't expected to have to answer this question, she wanted to tell the truth. She really, really did. But, she didn't have any proof she wasn't crazy. She was the only one hearing the voice after all, and having a voice constantly talking in your head, giving you headaches couldn't really be normal. It didn't make it better that the voice decided to make itself apparent again.

 **"** **Telling** **him** **would** **be like** **signing** **the** **papers** **to be** **transmitted** **to the** **mental hospital** **yourself** **,** **you** **don't** **want** **to live** **out** **the rest** **of** **your** **days** **in a** **straitjacket** **, do** **you** **?"** Once again, Mae was hit with a heavy headache. She winced and hunched down, her ears were ringing loudly. She tried to use her paws to cover them, but it wouldn't help. This headache wasn't as bed as the first one when she fainted, but it was still painful. She could barely hear Gregg when he spoke to her again. She looked up to see him behind the counter, leaning over with a concerned look on his face.

"Mae? Are you alright?" He said, his voice filled with worry. He looked ready to vault over the counter if need be. Mae opened her mouth to talk, but the headache was very distracting. Getting her words out were hard, but she still managed to utter a few words.

"Uuugh, I-I'm f-fine. Just a b-bit of a headache i-is all." She stuttered. Despite what Mae said about being fine, Gregg didn't believe her as he jumped the counter and ran to her side.

"Dude! I can tell this is more than a normal headache!" He said, "Don't worry, I got you." He wrapped an arm around her and helped her stand. Then, with his support she was guided behind the counter. Where Gregg pulled out a chair and made her sit. The headache still hadn't calmed down and Mae had to hold her head in her paws, it felt just a slight bit better when she did but not by much.

"Maybe you haven't been drinking properly? Should I get you a bottle of water, maybe?" He asked, leaning over her with a hand on her shoulder. Mae could barely hear what he said, but she nodded anyways. Gregg nodded back, as he got up and went into the backroom to reach the staff's fridge. Meanwhile, Mae tried her best to keep herself from throwing up.

 **"** **You're** **not** **good** **at** **lying** **,** **are** **you** **?"**  The voice said mockingly. The headache suddenly increased in intensity for a split second, mae yelped in pain as the ringing got louder. The only thing she could hear over the ringing was the voice, which made her realise something.  _Is the voice_ _doing_ _this_ _to_ _me_ _?_  She thought, forgetting the voice could actually read her thoughts.

 **"** **Took** **you** **long** **enough** **to** **figure** **that** **one** **out** **,** **huh** **?"**  The voice said mockingly, this time in a voice closely resembling her own. **"All your questions will be answered soon, when the time comes."**

 _Why_ _?_ _Why_ _is_ _this_ _happening to_ _me_ _?_  She thought, the headache suddenly loosening a bit as the voice answered, much quicker than it ever had before.

**"** **I'm** **just** **trying** **to save** **you** **from** **what** **you** **fear** **,** **you** **don't** **want** **to be** **called** **crazy by** **your** **friends** **, do** **you** **?"**

_No._

**"** **You** **don't** **wanna** **be** **called** **"Killer"** **again** **, right?"**

_Of_ _course_ _not._

**"** **Then** **don't** **tell** **anyone** **about** **the voice, the** **dreams** **or the** **weird** **experiences** **you've** **had** **. Face it, no** **one** **will** **believe** **you** **!"** The voice said harshly.  **"** **Y** **our** **excuses** **make i** **t look** **like** **you** **want** **to** **hide** **something** **,** **that** **raises** **red flags for** **them** **and** **they** **won't** **believe** **you** **.** **You** **need** **better** **excuses** **for** **what's** **happening to** **you** **."** The voice fell silent for a second, like it was thinking.  **"** **Hey** **,** **maybe** **I** **can** **help** **?"**  Mae gulped loudly, the voice in her head would help her lie to her friends? And this would somehow make her excuses sound less crazy? What sort of excuse would a voice in her head come up with anyways? It's in HER head, right? Shouldn't it's ideas be just as bad as her own? Mae was snapped out of her train of thought by Gregg coming out of the staff room, holding a bottle of water.

"I'm sorry it took such a long time, the fridge got stuck. Anyways, here." Gregg offered the bottled water to her, but as she reached to take it the headache came back strong again. The voice once again in the background.

 **"** **You** **haven't** **answered** **my** **question** **,** **Mae? Do** **you** **accept my** **help** **,** **or not?"** Mae shut her eyes tight, as she once again covered her ears. She heard Gregg say something, but she didn't hear what over the ringing in her ears. Mae didn't want to say yes, but she thought over what would happen if she told the truth. She trusted her friends, she did. But they would try their best to get her help to get rid of whatever this voice was, it would probably end up being somehing in her brain they couldn't remove and she would probably be considered dangerous. She would be locked up, just like the voice was saying. She didn't want that, but she didn't want to lie to her friends either. She clenched her teeth tightly as she answered to the voice.

_I accept._


	5. Crimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gregg and Mae do some crimes in the woods and Mae sees something suspicious deep in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, this chapter is late. Sorry for the wait! Been busy with school and such, it's hard to find time to write. To make up for it, I made this chapter a bit longer. Sorry if it might seem a bit rushed in some parts, I just really wanted to get a chapter out. Hope you enjoy!

Mae waited for the voice to respond, but it never did. However, it seemed to have gotten her answer. First, the headache died down. Mae breathed a sigh of relief as the ringing in her ears also came to a stop. She slowly opened her eyes, she could see clearly. No shapes, no blurry vision. She moved to stand up, only to realise something or someone was holding her in place. Only then did she hear the soft sobbing coming from the person hugging her tightly. She realised she was also hugging them back tightly, she loosened the tight grip on the person she now recognised as Gregg as he did the same and leaned back to look at her. 

"M-Mae?" He said, "A-are you okay?" Tears were streaming down his face as he held his paws on Mae's shoulders, softly shaking her. Mae came to the conclusion that Gregg had gotten really worried when he offered her water and it grew worse.  _He_ _probably_ _didn't_ _know_ _what_ _to do,_ _poor_ _guy._ Mae thought, feeling guilty over making her friend worry so much. 

"Yeah, I'm fine dude." She finally answered, giving him a reassuring smile. 

"Y-you sure? It looked pretty bad..." He mumbled,  "How are you feeling now?" Mae could see Gregg's eyes were still filled with worry, what could she say to calm him? She thought about this, but concluded that Gregg probably just wanted to know the truth. He could get upset if he found out she was lying about this to him. 

"I'm fine, really. What happened back there..." Mae stopped herself, not knowing how to finish that scentence. Gregg looked at her expectantly, waiting for an explanation. She didn't know what to say, didn't the voice say it would help her? Didn't she accept the help of the voice?Right as this thought left her mind, the voice sighed and spoke up. 

 **"** **You're** **impossible** **."** It sighed,  **"** **You** **already** **painted** **yourself** **into** **a corner..."**  

 _Stop_ _being_ _an ass and_ _help_ _me_ _!_ _What_ _should_ _I_ _say_ _?_  

 **"** **Blame** **it on a** **migrane** **."**  The voice answered simply, Mae thought for another moment and just as it looked like Gregg would speak up, she finally finished her scentence. 

"It was just a bad migrane." She said, "I get those sometimes, they've been really nasty lately. But they usually disappear pretty quickly." Mae was impressed at how confident and safe she sounded when she told the lie. She thought she would stammer, or eff it up somehow. But it went pretty smooth and Gregg's expression quickly changed from very worrysome, to just worrysome. Mae saw this as a good thing. 

"Jeez, dude. Your migraines are some of the craziest I've seen!" He laughed nervously, "Did you take some of the pills we had in our apartment? Did they help?" Mae didn't know what to answer, to lie or not to lie? Mae didn't want to worry Gregg, and responding with: 'Yeah, I had a couple! Vomited them out into the toilet afterwards!' Would do just that. Instead, she decided to tell a lie, a white lie. A small lie, that wouldn't be a big deal, right? 

 **"** **Need** **any** **help** **with** **this** **one** **too** **?"** The voice said, smugly. 

 _No! I_ _'ve_ _got_ _this_ _one_ _,_   _watch_ _!_  

 **"** **This** **should** **be** **good** **."**  Mae cleared her throat before speaking up, rubbing the back of her neck in fake-nervousness. 

"Uhh, actually. I kinda forgot to do that." She said as convincingly as she could. It sounded more believable as she thought it would, as Gregg put a hand on her shoulder with a reassuring smile. 

"It's cool, dude." He said, "I've got an extra bottle in the backroom if you feel like you need some?" Mae was kind of surprised the lie worked and Gregg didn't catch on, but she decided to roll with it. 

"Nah, don't worry. Like I said, it just comes and goes. I don't need them right now." Mae said, finally standing up from the chair and stretching her back. 

"Well, let's at least go outside so you can get some fresh air." Gregg said as he started walking towards the door. As Mae walked after him to the door, the voice started talking again. 

 **"** **Well** **, I** **certainly** **wasn't** **expecting** **that** **to** **work** **."** The voice said quietly, almost like a whisper. Mae had never heard the voice be so quiet before, it would usually be screaming or talking loudly. Now it was incredibly quiet as it spoke. Mae shrugged it off as nothing being wrong. 

 _I_ _told_ _you_ _I_ _had_ _it under_ _control!_ She said, or rather, thought proudly. She waited for another response from the voice, but no response came so she ended up just dropping it as she walked out of the door with Gregg. 

Stepping outside, Mae took a breath of fresh air. It felt like she had been in the Snack Falcon for way too long, and she instantly felt refreshed when she felt sunlight from the setting sun hit her face. Gregg stood beside her and did the same and they enjoyed a quiet moment just basking in the sunlight. Finally, after a while of standing still, Mae spoke up. 

"Soo, I know you didn't ask me to come around here only for me to say hi." She said, turning towards Gregg. Gregg turned to her and smiled widely. 

"Yeah, dude! There was something I found that I definitely need to show you!" Gregg said as he started walking towards the Food Donket, gesturing for Mae to follow him. She shrugged and ran to catch up to him.  _I_ _wonder_ _what_ _he's_ _found_ _._  She thought, she hoped it wasn't anything too intense like another arm or something. 

Mae expected Gregg to stop at the Food Donkey to vandalise or steal something, but Gregg walked past the abandoned supermarket as he went into the woods. Mae stopped for a moment, a thought crossing her mind.  _What_ _if_ _he's_ _talking_ _about_ _the_ _mine_ _?_  Mae shivered at the thought, not only did she not like the mine in general. She didn't want to pull Gregg into any issues she might have, the "ghost" or whatever was in her dreams. They were probably calling her out to the mine, and even though she planned to come back when needed, she didn't want Gregg to get into trouble. 

She slowly started walking again, a bit faster to catch up to Gregg. That being said, she didn't know if Gregg was actually going to show her the mine. It could be anything, really. Just because they were walking into the woods in the direction of the mine didn't mean anything, right? Mae broke out of her train of thought when Gregg started talking next to her. 

"It's pretty far into the woods, but we should reach it soon." He said, "I found it lying in the grass on the path a couple days ago, I hid it in a bush." Mae breathed a sigh of relief, he wasn't talking about the mine. He was talking about something else he found, something that could be picked up and moved. 

"What is it?" Mae asked, walking closely behind Gregg on the dirt path. Gregg looked over his shoulder back at her with a grin, as he answered. 

"It's a secret! You'll see when we get over there." Gregg said as he turned back to the road. Mae was getting paranoid, she didn't really know why. Something about this scenario just seemed... weird. 

 **"** **He's** **gonna** **kill** **you** **."**  Mae shook her head as a headache radiated through her head.  **"** **He's** **gonna** **hurt** **you** **."**  

 _No,_ _he_ _won't_ _. Stop_ _trying_ _to trick_ _me_ _,_ _I'm_ _not_ _falling_ _for it._ She could see different shapes forming at the edge of her vision as her ears started ringing. Gregg said something to her, but she couldn't hear what it was. 

 **"** **You're** **worthless** **to** **him** **,** **you're** **worthless** **to all** **of** **them** **."** The ringing in her ears kept increasing. She tried to keep walking straight on the road, but it was getting harder and harder to keep her balance with the pain and ringing. 

 _No,_ _I'm_ _his_ _friend_ _._ _He_ _likes_ _me_ _for_ _who_ _I am._ She looked up to see if Gregg had noticed, but he was still walking down the path talking. Mae tried to strain her ears to listen, but she couldn't hear anything over the ringing. The only thing she could hear was the voice. 

 **"** **You** **have** **to stop** **him** **,** **before** **he** **hurts** **you** **."** The shapes had now moved from Mae's peripheral vision and were scattered along the woods. The bushes were green circles, some of the trees were oak colored rectangles with spots of green. The shapes were growing in numbers and there were no signs of it stopping. The only thing that wasn't a dead shape, was Gregg. 

 _No, stop!_  Mae's breathing quickened as her heart started beating much faster. 

 **"** **You**   **have** **to**   **hurt**   **him** **."**  

 _No..._  

 **"** **You** **have** **to KILL**   **him** **."**  

 _No! Get_ _out_ _of_ _my_ _head_ _!_  Mae clenched her eyes shut tightly as she whined quietly. Only one thought repeating in her head. 

 _Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _._ _Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _. Get_ _out_ _._  Mae clenched her paws as she tried to get herself to calm down. She took a deep breath, she wasn't going to hurt him. She wasn't going to hurt Gregg. Andy Cullen was different, she didn't know him. This was her best friend! She took another deep breath as she steeled herself, slowly opening her eyes expecting to see more shapes in her vision. When she opened her eyes however, she was happy to see that there were no more shapes clouding her vision. The ringing and headache had also stopped. 

"You know what I'm saying, dude?" Gregg suddenly said, turning around to face Mae. Mae stopped for a moment before responding. 

"Y-yeah." She stuttered, she thought Gregg would notice something was wrong, but he just smiled and started walking again. Mae followed him, but as closely as she did before. She had no idea why, she just felt a bit scared. She wasn't sure if she was afraid of Gregg or if she was afraid of herself. 

Who knew when she could lose control again? It almost just happened. She thought Andy was a one time thing and that she was getting better, obviously she wasn't. What if she would have lost control? What if she would have hurt Gregg? Mae didn't want to think about it. She shivered as a cold breeze passed by. 

"Are we there yet?" She asked, peeking over Gregg's shoulder. They had been walking for a pretty long time, the road ahead was still just trees and bushes. They weren't even walking on a road anymore, they were just hiking through untouched ground. Mae couldn't see what could be so important for them to walk out this far. This thing Gregg wanted to show her had better be good. 

"Don't worry, it's just a little longer!" He answered, "It's right there!" He then said as he pointed towards a spot in the bushes that had been slightly trampled down. Mae looked at him with a dead pan expression. 

"Don't tell me you wanted to show me trampled ground?" She said, slightly annoyed. Gregg turned around and smiled widely, not able to contain his excitement any longer. 

"Even better! Come on, let's go!" He said as he started running towards the spot he had pointed out. Mae couldn't help but smile at Gregg's excitement, it must be something really special he wants to show her if it's that exciting to him. When Gregg reached the spot, he crouched down and put his hands into a bush searching for something inside. Mae walked over to his side and squatted down with him. 

"Need any help?" She asked, looking into the bush. Trying to find what he was looking for. Gregg stuck his tongue out in concentration as he kept feeling around in the bush, appearently still not finding what he was searching for. 

"Nah, I got this! It's somewhere around here..." He said as he stuck his head into the bush, trying to find the thing he wanted to show Mae. Mae giggled at how ridiculous Gregg looked doing this. After a while Gregg seemed to find what he was looking for, as he started pulling whatever it was out. He took his face out of the bush, his face lighting up as he pulled a suitcase out of the bush. 

It looked like a business suitcase made out of leather, it was a bit dirty from being in the woods for a while. But otherwise, it looked pretty cool. Mae didn't see why Gregg bought her out to see this, though. The look on her face must've made it pretty obvious as Gregg only smiled wider, putting the briefcase down on the ground. 

"The thing I want to show you, is right in there." He said matter-of-factly. Mae looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"So, why don't we open it?" Gregg turned towards her, smiling smugly. He gestured towards the suitcase, bowing slightly like a waiter bowing towards a respected guest. Mae gave him a confusing look for a moment, before shrugging and sitting down to open the suitcase. 

She carefully unzipped the suitcase before opening it. Inside were normal things you would expect in a suitcase for work, important documents, files and other work related stuff. Mae noticed a small pocket on the inside of the suitcase, she reached in and felt something made of metal. She pulled it out and her eyes widened when she realised what it was. 

There was a pistol! A handgun! Mae turned it in her hands to see if it was real, even if she had never seen a real gun up close she decided that the gun was indeed real. She turned to Gregg, he was still standing next to the bush smiling. 

"It's a Beretta M9." He said, "You know, there's a couple of clips of ammo in the other pocket." Mae reached over to the other pocket and took out two magazines for the gun. She turned towards Gregg, confused. 

"How did you find out what gun this is?" She said as she stood up, holding the gun in one hand and the magazines in the other. 

"I googled it." He said nonchalantly, "But I didn't take you all the way out here just to SHOW you the gun." He finished as he looked at her with expectation in his eyes. Mae caught up on this and realised what he meant. Her eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. 

"Crimes?" 

"Crimes." 

Gregg and Mae wiggled their arms as they howled into the air. 

"AWOOOOOOO!!!" 

\--oOo-- 

Mae followed Gregg to the spot they would use to shoot the gun. It was the same spot they had shot the crossbow at the "forest god" that one time. Gregg held the gun in his hand, he had made sure to check the safety was on to ensure nobody would get hurt before they even fired the gun. That would have been way too embarassing. They finally stopped when they reached the spot, both pretty excited to shoot a gun. They played a game of rock, paper, scissors to see who would get to shoot first. They agreed on playing first to three wins would win. Mae won two of the rounds, will Gregg won three. Mae sat on a stump watching as Gregg stepped up and aimed the gun at the target. 

After aiming for a while, he fired. The recoil of the gun almost made him drop it, but he didn't. Mae cheered in the background as the bullet hit the head of the mighty forest god. Gregg laughed too, firing more bullets. Getting used to the recoil, he fired faster and faster. When the 15-round clip finally ran out he lowered the gun, breathing heavily. Mae was still cheering and laughing in the background as the head of the forest god had almost been completely obliterated. They switched places after reloading the gun with a new magazine, now it was Mae's turn to shoot. 

She giggled with excitement as she aimed down the sights, it was pretty much like the crossbow. Except, it was of course much lighter and easy to use. She fired the first bullet, it hit the torso of the forest god. Gregg cheered her on in the background, clapping his hands and laughing. Mae remembered the time when she had tried hunting with her granddad and her dad. She hadn't really been that into it, but shooting a gun had been really cool. She took another shot aiming at the head this time, the already destroyed head got another bullet through it as the statisfying sound of wood splintering echoed through the forest. 

Mae was about to shoot another bullet, when she saw something move in the bush behind the forest god. She stopped and looked closer, after a while she saw it move again. She slowly aimed the gun towards the bush as she focused on it, ready to shoot anything or anyone coming out. She could hear Gregg calling out behind her, probably asking what she was doing. She couldn't hear him though, she was too focused. She could hear Gregg's footsteps behind her as he walked closer. Mae watched for movement, but she saw none. 

 _I'm_ _probably_ _just paranoid._  She thought, slowly lowering the gun. But right as she was gonna holster it, she saw the movement again. But this time she also saw what it was, she saw a miner's helmet sticking out of the bush. The ghost that had been hunting her those past few days wore a miner's helmet. Without hesitation, she started firing into the bush. She squeezed the trigger as fast as she could, shooting a bullet every millisecond. She heard Gregg talking to her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. When the bullets finally ran out and the gun started clicking, she lowered it and looked into the bushes again. She saw nothing, she turned towards Gregg who was looking at her with a fearful and worried expression. 

"M-Mae? What's wrong?" He asked, before looking in the direction she had shot in. He had probably caught onto the fact that Mae wasn't missing what she was aiming for, but that she was aiming for something else she had seen. 

"You didn't see him? The ghost?" She said, still looking towards the bush where she had seen the figure. Gregg shook his head, looking over to her. Mae could see the fear and worry deep in his eyes. Looking down, she only now saw he had pulled a knife out. Probably ready to fight whoever Mae had seen in the woods. 

 **"** **You** **raised** **alot** **of** **suspicion** **with** **that** **one** **."**   

 _I_ _noticed_ _._ _But_ _there_ _was_ _something_ _there_ _! I_   _know_ _I_   _saw_ _something_ _!_  

 **"** **Did** **you** **really** **? Or** **was** **that** **your** **messed** **up** **mind** **playing** **tricks?"** Mae didn't respond to the voice, there was no point talking to it. It was too negative about everything and Mae didn't want to deal with that shit. Instead, she turned her attention to Gregg. He was still fumbling around with the knife in his hand, staring anxiously at the bush. Mae shook her head as she put the gun into her pocket. 

"Come on, let's get out of here." She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him away before he could respond. They quickly started walking the way back to town. Mae nervously held the full magazine in her left hand and stood ready to raise her gun and reload if the ghost attacked. If the ghost was even real. After walking for a while, Gregg spoke up. 

"What you saw in the bushes..." He started, "Was it the same ghost you told us about?" Mae answered fast without hesitation, however her voice sounded really nervous as she spoke. 

"I don't know, Gregg." She said, "Maybe it was a ghost, or maybe I'm just paranoid." She turned around to look at Gregg, he seemed a bit calmer now. Not fumbling around with his knife as much as he did before. 

"Oh, well. If it was a ghost, or a person, or whatever. I would stab them for you, so no worries!" He said, smiling. Mae smiled back. 

"And I would be glad to empty another magazine into him for you!" They laughed as the tension got much looser around them. After a while of comfortable silence, Gregg spoke up again. 

"You know, the offer to go to that haunted house is still open." He said. Mae had completely forgot about the fact that all her friends had offered to help her with the ghost problem. She stayed silent for a bit, seeing the town come into view. 

"I know." 


	6. Mines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae pays a visit to the creature that have been paining her with dreams and voices, the creature has a request for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the very long wait for this chapter, I have no excuse other than me being lazy. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out quicker.  
> That being said, the next chapter will get pretty violent. Consider it a very early warning, enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter** **6** **:**  

After reaching the town and parting ways with Gregg, Mae started making her way home. Walking down the dark street, she started thinking about everything that had happened. She visited that mine, Gregg showed her a gun, they shot said gun and she saw a ghost. She realised she was still holding the magazine in her hand and decided to put it in her pocket, even though she was still scared the ghost was following her. She decided she had just been paranoid in the woods, and that there hadn't actually been anything there. She felt a bit guilty that she still had the gun, Gregg seemed to have forgotten about it on the way back. 

When they said goodbye and parted ways, Mae expected him to bring it up. But he didn't, she wasn't sure if he had forgotten about it or if he didn't want to upset her. Either way, she was grateful he hadn't mentioned it. Seeing her house come into view, she hoped her dad would be awake on the couch so they could chat. 

Reaching her house, she opened the door and peeked inside. The first thing she noticed was the empty living room and kitchen, this meant her parents were in bed. She sighed as she walked up the stairs into her room. She sat on her bed and pulled out the gun, inspecting it. Mae had made sure to turn the safety on as soon as she and Gregg had gotten into the town. Maybe it was a good thing her parents weren't awake. Owning a gun without a gun permit was illegal, and she obviously didn't have one. 

She thought about hiding the gun somewhere in her room, but the fear of one of her parents seeing it made her put it back in her pocket. She pulled up her laptop to see messages from both Gregg and Bea. Mae decided to open Bea's message first since they hadn't talked in a while. 

 _"Mae?"_  

 _"Mae,_ _are_   _you_ _okay?_ _You_   _were_ _acting_   _pretty_   _weird_ _?"_  

 _"Just_ _heard_ _from Angus_ _that_ _you're_ _staying_ _over at_ _their_ _place_ _._ _Message_ _me_ _when_ _you_ _see_   _this,_   _alright_ _?"_  

Mae felt guilty reading the messages, she didn't want Bea to worry about her like this. She had sent these messages the day Mae fainted and she hadn't even responded yet. She wasn't even sure if Bea would be awake at 3 AM. She still decided to send her a message, however. 

 _"I'm_   _fine, just a_ _r_ _lly_ _bad_ _migraine_ _. Sorry for the late_ _response_ _,_ _had_ _alot_ _to do_ _today_ _and_ _didnt_ _have_ _a_ _chance_ _to check_ _out_ _my_ _messages_ _."_  

She closed Bea's chat and opened Gregg's chat, at least Mae knew he was still awake and willing to talk. 

 _"_ _Hey_ _, Mae._ _You_ _awake_ _?"_  

 _"_ _Yup_ _,_ _whats_ _up_ _?_ _"_  

 _"U_ _wanna_ _talk_ _about_ _what_ _happened_ _in the_ _woods?"_  

Mae frowned, she didn't want to talk about what had happened. But at the same time, she didn't want Gregg to be worried about her. Talking about the voice in her head was out of the question. But, saying it was nothing would probably worry him more. The more she compared the two answers, the more she realised talking about the voice in her head didn't sound so bad. 

 **"** **You** **can't** **tell** **him** **about** **me.** **"** The voice said, surprising Mae who quickly snapped out of her thoughts at the sudden loud voice.  **"** **He'll** **have** **a** **reason** **to** **fear** **you** **,** **more** **than** **he** **already** **does** **."**  

Mae rolled her eyes at the voice.  _He_ _doesn't_ _fear_ _me_ _, and_ _he_ _won't_ _have_ _a_ _reason_ _to_ _fear_ _me._ _He's_ _my_ _friend_ _,_ _he'll_ _understand._ _I'm_ _sure_ _of_ _it._  He would, they had been friends for so long. They would die for each other. Suddenly, the computer binged as another message was sent. 

 _"_ _Hey_ _,_ _dude_ _. U still_ _there_ _?"_  

Mae quickly typed her response into the chat before the voice could respond to try to stop her again. 

 _"_ _Yea_ _,_ _Im_ _still_ _here_ _._ _Sry_ _about_ _that_ _._ _I'll_ _tell_ _you_ _about_ _what_ _happened_ _some_ _other_ _time_ _,_ _alright_ _?"_ After sending the message, she braced herself for the voice and heavy headache to come back. She sat there for at least a minute before realising it wasn't coming. She should've felt happy, it wasn't there to judge her actions for once! But instead of feeling happiness, she felt loneliness. She didn't know why, she just did. The computer dinged again, the screen lighting up as another message was sent. 

 _"_ _Alright_ _,_ _dude_ _._ _Whenever_ _you_ _want_ _to talk,_ _I'm_ _here_   _for_ _you_ _alright_ _?"_  

Mae felt tears roll down her eyes as she read the message, Gregg was the best friend anyone could ever ask for.  _If_ _there_ _was_ _a_ _friend_ _of_ _the_ _year_ _award_ _,_ _Gregg_ _would_ _win_ _every_ _year_ _._  She thought. She typed a quick response to try to hide the fact that she was stalling. 

 _"I_ _will_ _, bro. I'll_ _see_ _you_   _tomorrow_ _,_ _night_ _."_  

 _"_ _Goodnight_ _."_  

Mae put the laptop away, wiping tears from her eyes.  _God, I_ _can_ _be_ _such_ _a_ _wimp_ _sometimes_ _._  She thought to herself, chuckling lightly. She sat up on the bed as she started taking her boots off, struggling as always. She could just untie the boots and they would be much easier to get off, but then she would have to tie them for every time she put them on.  _Waaay_ _too_ _much_ _work_ _._ She thought, grunting as the boot she had been pulling on for a while finally came off. With a sigh of relief, she laid down in her bed and closed her eyes. Quickly drifting off to sleep. 

She awoke only a couple hours later. She had awoken from a noise, in fact she still heard it coming from somewhere. It sounded alot like the singing she would hear in her dreams, the singing that made her forget all troubles, the singing that made her feel good. 

Now, however, the singing was beckoning her, calling to her from somewhere. She felt like she needed to follow it, but she wasn't sure why it was there. She got up and stood in front of the mirror in her room, her reflection was completely dark said for two glowing red orbs in the darkness of the room, her nightmare eyes. 

"I'm still dreaming." She said aloud, as if to reassure herself. "The singing is here because I'm dreaming, that's it." No matter how convincing she tried making herself sound, she wasn't reassured at all. 

She extended her claws on her right paw and brought it up to her arm.  _If_ _I'm_ _dreaming_ _,_ _this_ _shouldn't_ _hurt_ _or I_ _wake_ _up_ _from the pain._ She thought before she used her claws to scratch her arm. Not too hard to draw blood, but not too soft either. She instantly felt pain and instinctively pulled her arm away, yelping from surprise. She looked at her arm, the scratch hadn't made it through the skin but she definitely felt pain.  _So_ _I'm_ _not_ _dreaming_ _._  She thought, listening to the constant singing filling her ears. 

She stood still for a moment, just listening to the singing. Like before, it was in a language she could not understand. No matter how hard she listened, she couldn't tell what was being sung. But for some reason, it was always soothing. She almost felt like she could get addicted to the feeling the singing gave her. 

Eventually, she decided that if the singing was indeed happening in real life, she should take it a bit more seriously. She perked her ears trying to pinpoint where the singing came from, it was not hard to hear that it was coming from the woods. Without much hesitation, Mae put on her boots and started sneaking out of the house. Being extra careful not to wake her parents, she tiptoed to the front door and walked outside. 

The air outside was chilly and unpleasant, Mae regretted not putting on a jacket or something. But it was too late for that, she had already started walking towards the singing. She walked as fast as she could considering the cold and the fact that she was freezing her ass off. She felt like it would be rude to keep whoever was singing waiting, for whatever reason. 

She expected the singing to get louder the closer she walked towards it, but it didn't. It kept the same, even when she reached the edge of the woods it hadn't gotten louder. She stopped for a moment, why was she doing this? Maybe it would be better to just walk back and forget about it. 

 **Just go back and** **sleep** **,** **there's** **no** **reason** **for** **you** **to go** **out** **there** **.**  

 _But_ _I_ _have_ _to_ _find_ _out_ _what_ _it_ _wants_ _._ _I_ _want_ _to_ _know_ _why_ _it's_ _in my_ _dreams_ _and_ _I'm_ _going down_ _there_ _,_ whether you want it or not! 

 **It's** **your** **choice,**   **but** **don't** **say** **I** **didn't**   **warn**   **you**   **if** **you** **get** **killed** **or** **hurt** **out**   **there** **...**  

Mae disregarded what the voice had said and started walking into the woods. She quickly realised the further into the woods she got, the colder the air around her felt. She also realised it looked like the singing was coming from the mine, a place she had told herself to never come back to. Something about the place creeped her out and even if the voice kind of soothed her nerves, it also made her nervous as to what really was in the mine. 

Finally reaching the hill leading to the mine, the air felt several-degrees-below-zero cold and Mae's whole body was shaking as she continued her walk towards the mine. Reaching the top, she looked down towards the entrance of the mine. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but the voice was definately coming from inside. 

Mae carefully made her way down the dirt slide and walked towards the mine, standing in front of the entrance. Being there still made her feel incredibly anxious, even more during the night. But, her curiousity got the better of her and she carried on, walking into the dark, damp mine. 

The further into the mine Mae walked, the darker it became. Even with her eyes being able to adjust to darkness quickly, she had a hard time seeing. Walking through the mine, the voice finally appeared to be getting louder. At least she knew she was on the right track. To her surprise, there was an elevator ahead. It seemed to be working to, judging by the red light coming from it's lamp. 

Mae cautiously stepped inside, ready to bolt out of it if it fell. The elevator shook as it started moving down, deeper into the cave. Mae leaned against the back wall of the elevator and sighed. 

 _What_ _the hell_ _am_ _I_ _doing_ _down_ _here_ _?_  She thought to herself.  _I_ _thought_ _things_ _would_ _be different_ _when_ _I_ _came_ _back_ _home_ _, I_ _thought_ _they_ _would_ _be_ _better_ _._ The voice suddenly intruded into Mae's thoughts, startling her. When was that horrendous voice going to go away? Hopefully after she got done with what the hell she was doing down here. 

 **What** **did** **you** **expect** **?** **You're** **Mae** **effing** **Borowski** **,** **trouble** **always** **manages** **to** **find** **you** **.**  Mae gritted her teeth, the voice sure knew how to annoy the hell out of her. The thing that made it even worse was the fact that it now sounded like her own voice talking down at her. The thing that annoyed her the most was that it was mostly right about what it had to say.  _Yeah_ _, I_ _guess_ _it_ _does_ _._ _But_ _why_ _me_ _?_  She didn't expect the voice to have an answer to that question, she just wanted to make it go away. 

 **I** **guess** **god just** **doesn't** **like** **you** **.** All of Mae's anger seeped away at the voice's words, the god she had seen in her dreams just a couple days ago came into her mind. Was He behind this? Or was their something else singing to her? She shook her head as the headache made itself known.  _Ugh_ _,_ _when_ _is_ _this_ _headache_ _problem going to go_ _away_ _?_ She thought, holding her head. 

The elevator suddenly stopped and Mae looked up, she was even deeper down into the mine now and it was darker than before. She slowly stepped out of the elevator and started walking again. Her footsteps started to feel heavy as she dragged them behind her. It couldn't be much further, she could feel herself getting weaker the longer she walked. Before she had felt that the singing was helping her on her journey, the louder it became however, the more she now started to fear the singing. After a minute or so, she finally reached some sort of door. She opened it and took a step inside and froze up, looking around the unsettling room she had just walked into. 

It looked like some sort of makeshift church, complete with pews. Someone seems to have retrofitted it this way and that scared Mae even more.  _Why_ _the hell_ _would_ _something_ _like_ _this_ _be down_ _here_ _?_  She thought, her mind racing at possible explanations as to why something like this would be down in a coal mine. Unfortunately, most of the explanations didn't ease her increasing anxiety. Mae decided she had seen enough, she really just wanted to go home and forget this ever happened. 

However, as she turned around something caught her eye. It was another opening, leading to  _yet_ _another_  room. While Mae really just wanted to head home, go to bed and forget this ever happened, she knew it wouldn't work out like that. She was too far into it now, might as well finish what she started. She took a deep breath and stepped towards the door, only now did she realise the singing had stopped and had been replaced with unsettling silence. The singing had been a bit uncomfortable, but it was much better than the dead silence she was presented to now. 

Her mind was still racing while she slowly walked towards the hole in the wall, shapes started to appear at the edge of her vision.  _No, not_ _now_ _._  She tried to calm herself down to get rid of them. But the situation didn't allow for that, only now did she start to her whispers in her mind. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she caught a few words.  **Kil** **l** **,** **feed** **,** **death**. What the hell did they mean? 

She tried to keep herself calm, but it was getting increasingly harder.  _What_ _are_ _those_ _whispers_ _?_ _Those_ _are_ _real right?_ _They_ _aren't_ _in my mind? Oh_ _god_ _,_ _I'm_ _definitely_ _going mad._ _Please_ _,_ _shut_ _up_ _._  Her mind suddenly flashed through several memories at once. Memories like the time she smashed Andy with the bat, leaving for college, seeing shapes at college. Finally, she remembered doing crimes with Casey and Gregg and suddenly, she felt very sad. She missed Casey, but she could at least have some closure knowing he jumped a train and got out of this piece of shit town.  

Finally, she reached the hole in the wall. The shapes were still floating in the edge of her vision, and she were using all of her willpower to keep them out of her direct line of sight. She stopped for a moment, the inside of the room was even darker than the one she was standing in. She could barely see anything of what it contained, but she had already walked this far. "Fuck it." She said to herself, before she stepped into the extremely dark room. 

The first thing she noticed, was that she could barely see a foot in front of her face in the almost pitch dark room. The sound of every step she took echoed through the room loudly. After taking a few steps, she felt her foot graze against something. She looked down to see some sort of lantern, she bent down and picked it up. After picking the lantern up, Mae realised it wasn't really a lantern. It was an oil lamp, an oil model judging from the oil container at the bottom of it. There wasn't much fuel left for the lamp, but it might be enough to light it. Only problem was, Mae had no source of fire to light the fuel on fire. 

She sighed as she moved to put the lantern down on the ground, but then she noticed the box of matches lying on the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up the matchbox, not even bothering to ask herself how it ended up there to start with. She opened the matchbox and was surprised to find that only a couple matches were missing. Now that she thought about it, the box was almost brand new. She shrugged it off and lit a match, using it to light the lantern. 

Despite the anxiety from before, Mae felt giddy with excitement when the lantern lit up. She could finally get a better look around the room, her excitement quickly died down when she realised she was standing in a completely empty room with a goddamn hole in the center of it. Mae slowly walked over to the edge of the hole and looked down, she wasn't surprised when she only saw darkness. She sighed and was just about to walk back when she was hit with a sudden realisation. What if the singing came from the hole? 

She looked down the hole again, it was too dark to see anything. If there was something down there, she couldn't see it. She took a deep breath, finally mustering one simple word. "Hello?" Her voice echoed around the room as she tensely waited for an answer. Eventually, a deep voice called back. 

 **"Hello, Margaret** **Borowski** **"**  The powerful voice shook Mae's whole body. This wasn't the usual voice she had been hearing in her head, it definitely came from the dark hole in front of her. The sound of the deep voice also confirmed to Mae that this was the voice that had been singing to her just moments earlier. She swallowed, finally mustering the courage to ask the question she had wanted to ask from the start. 

"W-what are you??" She said, her voice barely a whisper. The voice from the hole was quiet for a while, like it was pondering the question. Then it finally spoke up. 

 **"I** **have** **gone** **by** **many** **names** **."** The voice said,  **"Lucifer,** **Beelzebub** **, Satan, The** **devil** **,** **j** **ust to** **name** **a** **few** **. I** **have** **taken a** **liking** **to the** **most** **recent** **one** **,** **however** **."** The voice chuckled before continuing.  **"Black** **goat** **."** Mae was shaking like a leaf on a tree at this point, losing her composure. She thought back to the dreams she had been having, the ones were the figure would sing. She never saw the figure in the dreams since it always stood in the dark. Thinking about it however, the outline could have looked like a goat. She could hear the Black goat talking to her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. She could see shapes appearing at the edge of her vision again and it only made her panic harder. She didn't want to stay in the mine, but the Goat probably wouldn't let her go until He had told her why she was beckoned into the mine. So she finally spoke up, her voice cracking as the nervousness was heavy in her voice. 

"What do you want with me?" She said, "Why can't you leave me alone?" She started crying now, this situation was too much for her. She needed to get out, but He wouldn't allow it. She hadn't even tried running, but only now did it occur to her that she couldn't. She just couldn't force her legs to move, she was stuck in place. 

 **"The** **reason** **I** **called** **you** **down** **here** **? Oh,** **it's** **simple."** He said, as if it would answer all of Mae's questions.  **"I** **want** **you** **to** **join** **me.** **"** Mae almost felt her heart stop for a split second. Join him? What the hell does that even mean? It was almost as if the Goat could read her thoughts, as he continued.  **"** **Well** **, I** **don't** **necessarily** **want** **you** **to** **join** **me.** **But** **rather** **to** **join** **my** **other** **followers** **in** **this** **town** **"**  Mae was feeling more confused the more the Goat talked, there were other followers for this thing? 

"But, why me?" She asked, "Why do you want me to join?" She could feel her headache come back, as the shapes started appearing all around her. But she tried her best to keep calm, at least until she got out of these mines. 

 **"** **I'm** **just** **gonna** **be** **brutally** **honest** **.** **You** **interest** **me** **,** **you** **always** **have** **ever** **since** **the** **first** **time** **I** **saw** **inside** **your** **mind.** **I** **decided** **to test** **you** **, to** **see** **if** **you** **deserved** **to** **hear** **me.** **"**  He said, his voice suddenly more timid and calm. Mae knew where this was going, he had been in her dreams. She had heard the singing, it must have been him, right? Were he responsible for the headaches, or was that something else? She had so many questions nagging in the back of her mind.  **"** **You** **reacted** **positively** **to my** **singing** **,** **you** **liked** **it. It** **made** **you** **feel** **...** **alive** **,** **correct** **?"** Mae snapped out of her thoughts when the voice adressed her. 

"Yeah, it did..." She whispered, she knew there was no use in lying. This was a god after all, it could see right through her. She knew it could, she felt it's gaze burrow through her very being. The voice laughed again. 

 **"It** **can** **do so** **much** **more** **than** **making** **you** **'** **feel** **'."** The Goat said,  **"** **Here** **,** **let** **me** **show** **you** **what** **I** **mean** **."** Suddenly, the Goat started singing again. It was the exact same song Mae had heard in her dreams. Mae felt a sudden surge of energy enter her body, her whole body felt like it was getting warmer. She looked around, the shapes were gone. She noticed that she could see the whole cave much clearer, like some sort of night vision stronger than the one her nightmare eyes currently had. Before, the light of the lantern only lit up the area around a small circle, the rest of the cave still pitch black. But now she could see every crack in the mountain walls around her, she could see every loose rock lying around on the ground. Once again, she felt alive for once! But when the Goat stopped singing, it all went away. The darkness closed in again, as the feeling of sadness and hopelessness came back to her. 

 **"** **What** **did** **you** **think** **?** **"**  The Goat asked her. She wanted to say she hated it, she wanted to tell the stupid goat to go to hell and that she wasn't gonna join His stupid cult. However, she couldn't lie, she loved the feeling she got when He sang to her. She felt herself slowly become addicted to the feeling the more she felt it, that wasn't a good thing. She groaned and rubbed her head before responding. 

"Nice, it was... nice." The panic was building up again, and the shapes were creeping into her vision. She wanted to make them go away, they could come back at any time just not now. Now was the worst time for them to come. 

 **"I** **knew** **you** **would** **like it. I** **can** **tell** **you** **are** **against** **joining** **the** **cult** **to** **worship** **me.** **"** Mae felt a wave of panic wash over her and was about to speak when the Black goat spoke up again.  **"I understand** **this** **is a** **difficult** **choice to make, so** **why** **don't** **you** **think** **about** **it? I** **have** **already** **told** **the rest** **other** **ones** **a new** **member** **may** **be** **joining** **, so** **they** **will** **expect** **you** **if** **you** **decide** **to** **join** **.** **It's** **all** **up** **to** **you** **Margaret."** Mae nodded quietly and turned around to leave, before she left she heard the voice one last time.  **"If** **you** **decide** **you** **want** **to** **join** **them** **, come back** **here** **tomorrow** **night** **.** **They** **will** **be** **waiting** **for** **you** **."**  

After passing through the door, Mae ran towards the elevator as fast as she could. She needed to get out, get fresh air. Getting into the elevator, it slowly moved upwards. She wasn't seriously considering joining this weird-ass cult, right? What the hell was wrong with her? Once the elevator finally reached the top, she kept running. Once she reached the entrance, she realised she had been holding the lantern the whole time. She turned around and prepared to throw it back into the depths of the mine. But shapes covered all of her vision and she could barely see if she could throw it or not. 

That's when she heard the footsteps. 


	7. Murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, y'all ready for some violence? This chapter will get a bit graphic, it will include gore and death.  
> Viewer discretion is advised.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Chapter** **7:**  

Mae tensed up as she heard the footsteps outside the mine approach her. She quickly hid next to the entrance of the mine. The only good thing was that the footsteps were coming from outside the mine, she was on the inside. But whoever was walking around outside were obviously heading towards the entrance, so sooner or later whoever it was would spot her. She wanted to peek out and try to get a look at whoever it was approaching her, but she already knew it was a mass of shapes. Shapes don't feel pain, they don't feel emotions. The shapes are just empty shells. 

Mae raised the lantern, ready to smash it into the mass of shapes she knew would walk into the mine at any second. As soon as she saw the shapes peek in, she swung the lantern into them with as much force she could muster. She felt the impact of the lantern making contact, she could feel glass brushing against her fur. A yelp was heard as the shapes stumbled back out of the mine. She heard a thud as the shapes landed hard on the ground. Mae walked out of the mine, seeing the shapes struggling. The shapes were a mess of dark blue, black and yellow colors, around the shapes on the ground were also small red shapes. 

Mae started reaching for the gun in her pocket. But before she could pull it up and finish the job, the voice in her head intervened.  **"Stop,** **don't** **waste** **your** **bullets** **."** Mae took her hand away from the pocket with the handgun, not looking away from the shapes in front of her for even a second.  _Then_ _how_ _do_ _you_ _suppose_ _I do it?_  Mae carefully glanced around the area, still trying to keep her eyes on the shape. She needed to be ready for the shape to make a move, just in case. Looking back, she could see the destroyed lantern lying a few feet away. She thought about picking it up but it wouldn't really do for a good weapon. She could however see a rather sturdy looking, loose board on the side of the entrance. " **How** **about** **using** **that** **?"**   

Mae looked back at the shapes. They were slowly inching away from her. It almost looked like they were trying to escape. She could hear noises coming from them, but she had no idea what they were saying. They seemed to be repeating a couple words constantly, over and over. She couldn't hear what they were saying, it was all white noise to her. Kinda like when you turn on an old TV and all you see is static. She laughed bitterly at the shapes before making her way over to the loose board. This only seemed to make the shapes try to crawl away faster, the blow Mae had delivered to them seemed to have been more effective than she thought.

She grabbed hold of the loose board and pulled. It ripped off the wall with a statisfying crack. Getting close to the shape, she raised it and gave it a test swing. She then looked down at the shape lying in front of her. It had been a long time since she had felt in control of one of these "shapes" situations. Standing over the shape, she was surprised by the fact that she wasn't scared or afraid of the shape. All she could feel was anger. The shapes had ruined her life, they continue to ruin her life. No more, not again.

"What are you really?" Mae surprised herself by how scary she sounded. Her voice turned growl-like as she spoke. She waited for the shape to answer, or at least make some sort of noise. When no sound came, Mae raised her make-shift bat high in the air. The shape tried to move out of the way but Mae was faster. She screamed as she swung down on the shape with all her might. The impact once again made red shapes fly everywhere, some landing on the ground, some covering Mae's fur and clothes. The shapes yelped again as they were hit, still trying to talk to her. Mae raised the wooden plank again, but she hesitated when she saw the shapes shivering slightly. Were they in pain?

 **"** **What** **are** **you** **waiting** **for? Hit it!"**  The voice screamed at her. The shapes were still trying to talk to Mae but she couldn't understand a word. They weren't trying to escape now, it seemed like they just wanted her to stop hurting them. Was she hurting them? Could you hurt a shape? 

 _They're_ _in pain!_ She lowered the board slightly. The shapes seemed to loosen up at this. They stopped trembling and the noises they were emitting quieted down. The part Mae had hit with the board were covered in red shapes.  **"** **Shapes** **can't** **feel** **,** **they're** **just** **dead** **shapes** **.** **They're** **trying** **to trick** **you** **, make** **them** **pay** **!"** _But_ _..._ **"MAKE THEM PAY"**  

Mae raised the board again. She hesitated again, just for a second. Then she swung down at the shape again. The shapes seemed to scream something before the board crashed into them, hitting the top part of the shape. The part that had been partially colored yellow was red when Mae had swung at it. The shapes seemed to be trying to dodge the blows, attempting to roll to the side or move. This didn't stop Mae or slow her down. Instead, it only made her swing quicker and harder. 

"I'M TIRED OF YOU RUINING MY LIFE!" By now, the shape had stopped trying to dodge the blows. Instead, the shapes lay still. Barely reacting to the blows the board delivered. "JUST DIE, DIE, DIE!" Mae could feel her throat getting hoarse and her arms growing tired. But she felt some newfound energy that urged her to keep hitting the shape, to make sure it wouldn't get up. 

Eventually, after alot of blows the shape had stopped moving. The board Mae was holding, the ground and her clothes and body were all covered in red shapes. Mae panted heavily as she dropped the board, the mass of shapes that had previously been dark blue, yellow and black were now almost completely covered in red. Mae hadn't realised how exhausted she had been making herself by swinging the bat.  _It's_ _not_ _gonna_ _get_ _up_ _, right?_ She took a few steps backwards before taking a seat on the ground, her arms felt sore. Exhaustion hit her fast as she flopped back and laid on the ground for a moment. 

 **"** **You** **should** **know** **best,** **you've** **dealt** **with** **them** **your** **whole** **life** **."** Before she closed her eyes, she could see the shapes slowly disappearing from her vision.  _Yeah_ _,_ _they're_ _gone_ _. For_ _now_ _at_ _least_ _._ Mae took another deep breath, everything would be fine. The shapes were gone, she had taken care of them. She would be fine, for nowat least. Mae relaxed her body as she eventually drifted off into a dreamless sleep. 

\--oOo-- 

 **Bea's** **bedroom** **\- 6 AM**  

A constant beeping echoed in Bea's cramped room, as she awoke from the annoying sound. Reaching over, she turned the alarm off with a flick of her finger.  _Morning_ _already_ _?_  She thought as she slowly sat up, stretching and yawning loudly. She picked her phone off the floor. Unlocking it, she hissed slightly from the bright light invading her room. Once her eyes got used to the brightness, she checked the display clock on the screen.  _Yep_ _, 6 AM._ _Time_ _to get_ _up_ _._  She sighed as she got out of her small bed. 

She opened the box closest to her bed, taking out her normal get-up. Fully clothed, she walked into the bathroom. In the middle of the room, she stopped in front of the mirror. Looking into her refleciton, she contemplated wether or not she should open the store today. Why even bother?  _I_ _should_ _just_ _stay_ _home_ _,_ _I_ _don't_ _feel_ _like going to_ _work_ _today_ _._  She sighed again as she turned her eyes away from the mirror. She couldn't just not work, she had responsibilities. No one else were gonna get it done for her, might as well just get it over with. 

"God, I need a smoke." She thought. She walked back into her room to get her pack of cigarettes. That's when she noticed her laptop next to her bed. The screen was open and it was turned on. She was surprised she didn't notice earlier. She sat down on her bed and picked it up, placing it in her lap. Bea never recieved messages from anyone this early in the morning. But this time, she had gotten a couple of messages from a certain dark blue cat. "Maeday." She remembered the last time she had seen Mae. She had gotten a big headache and just ran off out of nowhere. And altough Bea didn't want to admit it, she had been really worried about her. So she found herself relieved to see Mae had responded to the messages she sent. At least that meant she hadn't gotten seriously hurt, right? 

Bea opened the message and read through it. Relieved to know that Mae was alive at least, Bea began typing her response. 

 _"Glad to_ _hear_   _you're_   _ok."_  

 _"So..."_  

 _"_ _Umm_ _..."_  

 _"If_ _you_ _don't_   _wanna_ _talk_ _about_ _that_   _headache_ _thing_ _, that's_ _completely_ _fine by_ _me."_  

 _"If_ _you_ _have_   _time_ _, stop by the_   _Ol_ ' _pickaxe_ _._ _Alright_ _?"_  

Bea left her fingers hovering over the keyboard for a while before she typed out the last message. 

 _"_ _Be careful_ _,_ _Maeday_ _. I'm_ _worried_ _about_ _you_ _."_

After sending the message, Bea logged off the computer and put it on the floor next to her bed again. Next to the laptop she found her pack of cigarettes. She picked them up and put one in her mouth. Picking up her lighter, she walked into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. On the old worn-out couch in the next room Bea's dad had fallen asleep, empty beer bottles on the floor next to him. Bea sighed, "Not really surprising to find you here..." Bea mumbled as she struck her lighter a couple times. "Old, cheap shit, come on..." Eventually the lighter lit up, lighting the cigarette. 

Sighing in relief, she inhaled the smoke before blowing it out in the room. Normally, she would avoid smoking in the small apartment. But she found she didn't really care, not today at least. Her dad moved uncomfortably as he mumbled something in his sleep. Bea was unable to understand what he was saying. Though judging from his uncomfortable movements, he was probably having another nightmare. She sighed again as she walked over to the kitchen part of the small living room.  

Opening the fridge, she peeked inside to pick out something to eat. The inside of the fridge was next to empty. One carton of milk (probably expired), a couple of vegetables and a few bottles of beer could be seen from Bea's point of view.  _Eh_ _,_ _who_ _needs_ _breakfast_ _anyways_ _._  Bea thought as she closed the fridge door and took another drag from her cigarette. She picked up the keys discarded on the counter and walked to the door. 

After exiting the small apartment, she made sure to lock the door.  _Dad_ _don't_ _get_ _out_ _much_ _anyways_ _._  She made her way towards the elevator, only to spot a piece of paper taped to it's door. "OUT OF ORDER!"  _Just my luck. Stairs it is, then._  She walked down the stairs at a brisk pace and eventually reached the bottom floor of the run-down apartment block. She opened the door and finally stepped outside. 

The air outside was chilly. Winter was coming, and with each day it became colder and colder ouside. Bea took a deep breath of fresh air before she started walking towards the Ol' pickaxe. "I'm never going to get used to the cold weather." She said quietly to herself as she shivered slightly. It felt like an eternity before she finally reached the old hardware store she supposedly "owned". What with her father being home, wallowing in depression and sadness. Maybe she should be the new owner. She felt a twinge of guilt at that thought and decided to just suck it up. 

However, right as she was about to pull her keys out of her pocket to unlock and open the store, she heard something in the distance. It sounded like someone running. She looked up in the direction of the sound, right down the road where she just came from. That's when she saw a dark blue cat, wearing an orange t-shirt and sweatpants, covered in spots of... was that blood? The red eyes of the cat were looking down, unfocused on the sidewalk. 

"Mae?" Upon hearing her name, the cat looked up, startled. Bea was taken aback by the appearence of Mae, parts of her clothes and fur were covered in what looked like blood. Her ears were twitching nervously. The thing that surprised Bea the most, however, were her eyes. The red eyes were glowing in the slight darkness of the early morning and tears were streaming down Mae's face. They were filled with horror, as if Mae had just seen a ghost. 

Bea's confusion was quickly replaced with worry. "M-Mae, what's happened?" Bea waited patiently for a response, but Mae just kept looking at her. Sniffling and whimpering, Mae finally talked back to Bea. "I'm sorry." She said, her voice hoarse. Before Bea could respond, Mae took off running in the separate direction. "Mae!" Mae quickly disappeared into an alley as the sounds of her footsteps faded away. Bea tried to run after the cat, but when she came to the ally the cat was nowhere to be seen. "Dammit!"

Bea could only think of one thing to do, she quickly picked up her phone and entered a number.  _Hopefully_ _he's_ _awake_ _at_ _this_ _time_ _._  She thought as the first dial tone came through.

\--oOo-- 

 **Outside** **the** **mine** **\- 5:30 AM**  

Mae slowly opened her eyes. It took her a moment to remember where she were. The cold ground she was using as a bed was obviously not in her room. Unless the roof of her house disappeared over night, giving her a full view of the blue sky above her. Along with her walls, judging by the cold wind blowing at her from seemingly all directions. She turned her head to the side, seeing big trees looming over her. So, she was in the woods for one. She turned her head to the other side, this time she saw the entrance to the mine a few feet from her. She was in front of the mines... Suddenly her memories came flooding back. She had been talking to the Black goat deep in the mines. On her way out of the mine, she heard footsteps. Then losing her grip on reality, she had assaulted a shape.  _The_ _shape_ _..._  

_Oh._

Mae slowly forced herself into looking forward, using her arms to lift herself into a sitting position. All the while, she prayed that the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed. That she hadn't made some poor person a victim of a brutal attack. Her prayers stopped when she spotted a figure in the distance. Lying in a pool of their own blood, the person was unmoving. Mae's breathing quickened, she recognised that outfit. Their black nylon jacket, black jeans, a black cap and black canvas sneakers had spots of blood all over, but Mae still saw who the clothes belonged to. 

"Germ?" 

Slowly, she stood up and started approaching the figure. When she got close enough to see they're face, she froze. The body belonged to Germ but it was so horribly disfigured, it was next to impossible to tell if it weren't for the outfit and large yellow beak. Looking at the face, Mae could feel bile rising in her throat. She put her hand over her mouth, fighting the urge to vomit. This proved to be an futile as Mae violently hunched over, barfing all over the ground only a few feet from Germ's mangled corpse. She tried to calm herself, but everytime she tried her eyes would fall upon Germ's face and she would throw up again. His head was caved in, blood and gore everywhere. His eyes were stuck wide open, horrified. They were staring in Mae's direction. They were staring at their killer. 

Those eyes... they were staring right through her. They were judging her for what she did and she deserved it, she knew she did. Suddenly, she heard a voice. It wasn't like the voice she usually heard in her head, but it sounded familiar.  **"** **Hmm** **,** **interesting** **how** **a** **panicked** **and** **scared** **creature** **can** **kill** **a** **friend** **without** **hesitation."** She knew she had heard the voice before, but from where?  **"** **You** **keep** **surprising** **me** **, miss** **Borowski** **."**  That's when it clicked. It was the Goat! It was in her head!  **"I** **think** **you** **will** **do a** **good** **job** **serving** **me.** **"** Why was the Goat in her head? Mae had so many questions she wanted to ask the Goat, but she stayed silent. Scared by the Goat's sudden presence. Mae turned towards Germ again, lifeless, cold. Killed by her and her  _stupid_  head, her head and those  _stupid_  shapes. 

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. Dropping to her knees next to the body, the situation finally getting to her.  _I_ _killed_ _my_ _friend_ _._   **You** **beat** **him** **into** **a** **bloody** **pulp** **.**   _He_ _probably_ _begged_ _me_ _to stop._ **Oh,** **h** **e** **did** **,** **he** **defini** **tely** **did** **.**   _I_ _didn't_ _mean_ _it!_ **You're** **a horrible person.** _I_ _know_ _!_  Mae kept crying, blurting out apologies. "Oh god, please forgive me!" She cried, covering her eyes with her paws as she did. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it! Oh god, I'm sorry!" She kept crying and apologizing for what felt like hours. Finally, her voice turned so sore it almost gave out completely. She stopped apologizing, instead she just kept crying for even longer. When she eventually stopped she was exhausted, she carefully opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry from her tears and her eyes still stung. She slowly stood up and wiped her eyes the best she could.  _I_ _have_ _to get_ _out_ _of_ _here_ _._ She thought as she started walking. 

Before she left the mine behind, she turned back one more time. She saw the mine, ominous as ever. She saw the dirt wall she slid down earlier. Finally she looked at the corpse on the ground. Her gaze lingered on the scene in front of her. Unconsciously, she started scanning the area for shapes. She had been in full on panic mode, her mind was a mess. There had to be shapes, right? Surprisingly, there were none. This wasn't what scared Mae, however. Mae was scared because a part of her mind found the shapeless scenery a relief, but another part of her mind felt deep disappointment. Why? She didn't want to see the shapes, they were only bad for her. So why did she feel like she needed to see them? Was it a way to vent? It obviously wasn't a safe way to do so.

Finally, Mae decided it was time to get going before someone realised she wasn't in her bed at this hour. She took a deep breath before running towards Possum Springs. 


	8. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the other ones. The reason for this is that I've been really tired lately and haven't had the energy to write much. The next chapter will probably be longer.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait, hope you guys enjoy reading!

Mae ran down the street as fast as she could. Making sure to keep an eye out for anyone out late that could catch a glimpse of her. Her appearance was nothing short of frightening. Random spots of her fur were covered in blood and so were her clothes. She could still feel the stinging in her eyes from crying earlier and her vision was still blurry. 

She was surprised that she hadn't slowed down once yet. Last time she ran to and from the mine she would have to take several stops or at least slow down along the way. But for some reason, Mae's body was full of energy that never disappeared. She felt like she was running faster than usual as well, but that could just be her imagination. 

"Imagination", that word didn't really mean much to her now. Imagination is someone's mind playing a joke, like a hallucination but more innocent. Before this point and time, anyone talking about some sort of god in the bottom of a hole in a closed up mine would be considered imagination to Mae. Now she didn't know the meaning of the word.  

If things like what she saw tonight exists, there is no such thing as "imagination", at least not to her. If she told someone about what she saw tonight, they would mention the word "imagination" at least once. 

 _No_ _one_ _will_ _ever_ _believe_ _me._  She thought, the desperation of the situation finally sinking in.  _They_ _won't_ _believe_ _me_ _,_ _they'll_ _just_ _think_ _I'm_   _crazy._ **Are** **you** **not?** **Your** **friend's** **corpse** **would** **disagree** **.**   _N-No,_ _that_ _wasn't_ _my_ _fault_ _!_ **Blaming** **it on the** **shapes** **,** **huh** **?**  

The voice chuckled.  **You** **sound** **saner** **** **** **already** **.** Mae's eyes were unfocused, staring at the sidewalk in front of her feet.  **You're** **already** **crazy,** **always** **have** **been** **.** Mae could feel her eyes sting again, she did her best to fight the urge to cry. It wouldn't help her, it would only make her feel more miserable- 

"Mae?" The sudden voice snapped Mae out of her thoughts as she stopped dead in her tracks. She recognized that voice. She slowly looked up and saw a familiar blue crocodile standing in front of her.  _Bea..._  Mae cursed herself for being so reckless. Running loudly on the sidewalk in the early morning sun? No wonder someone saw her. 

But for it to have to be Bea who saw her like this? As if the already horrible events couldn't get worse. Bea looked really shocked, not so much to see Mae. More to see the state she was in.  _How_ _the hell do I get_ _out_ _of_ _this_ _?_  Mae tried to think of something, anything to say that would make sense at the moment. But every lie she could think of became worse and worse the more she thought. 

Bea's shocked expression quickly turned into one of worry as she realized how bad Mae really looked. "M-Mae, what's happened?" Mae wanted to tell the truth, she wanted Bea to understand and help her get help. But she knew it wouldn't work out like that, what she had done could never be forgiven. She looked up at Bea, into her dark blue eyes. 

She swallowed, trying to get rid of the feeling of sandpaper in her aching, sore throat before opened her mouth and finally said one word. It was barely whispered in her rough voice, attempting to say anything else seemed way too painful. "I'm sorry." She said. 

Before Bea could react, Mae turned on her heel and ran. She could hear Bea screaming after her, but she didn't care. She had no way of explaining to her why she was covered in blood and telling the truth about the murder she committed didn't really appeal to her. 

She ran into the alley she had seen earlier before she saw Bea. Like earlier, she realized she was running way faster than she ever had before. She had no idea why that was but she decided to not think too hard about it. 

When she was certain she had outrun Bea, she slowed down and started taking more care of staying hidden. She stayed away from the street and made her way through alleys instead. 

Eventually, she reached her house without being spotted. She knew the front door would be locked, so instead, she climbed up the tree in her backyard. One of the branches almost touched the window to her room so she balanced across to reach her room. Once she was inside, she shut and locked the window tight. 

Mae decided the next step would be to get cleaned up. She looked down at her blood-covered shirt. " **You** **really** **did** **a** **number** **on** **him** **,** **huh** **?"** Mae could feel the tears stinging in her eyes again.  _Shut_ _._ _Up_ _._  

Mae walked to the mirror only to see that her clothes weren't the only things that needed cleaning. Mae's fur on her arms and face were also covered in blood. Now Mae understood why Bea had looked so shocked, Mae looked like she had just come back to life as a zombie. How the hell was she going to explain this mess? 

She started crying again. Though much quieter than she had in the woods, she didn't want to wake her parents up. 

Suddenly, her computer binged. A new message? She slowly got up and checked the screen. She quickly realized it was not only one message but several. All of her friends were sending her worried messages. Mae clicked Gregg's icon first, a box of what looked like a hundred messages appeared. 

 _"_ _Hey_ _,_ _dude_ _. I just got a_ _message_ _from Bea, u_ _alright_ _?"_  

 _"_ _Please_ _respond!_ _I_ _see_ _you_ _are_ _online"_  

 _"_ _Please_ _answer_ _me_ _"_  

Mae felt sick to her stomach like she was gonna throw up again.  _Shit_ _,_ _shit_ _,_ _shit_ _,_ _shit_ _!_  Bea had told the others about what she had seen! This was not good, not good at all. 

Mae thought she could just explain herself to Bea, like a really good lie that would sound real. But now, that didn't seem possible. She could not let them know! They could never know what really happened! Mae quickly put away her laptop and made her way towards the bathroom. 

 _I'll_ _just_ _wash_ _up_ _and come_ _up_ _with_ _a plan._  She thought as she stepped into the shower. 


	9. Escape

"Are you sure?" Angus asked, his voice heavy and lethargic. He looked out the window, the sun wasn't in the sky but it was still pretty bright out to be so early in the morning. Normally, Angus would have only stepped out of bed in maybe an hour or so, to prepare for work. But the sudden phone call from Bea had awoken him.

He didn't know what he had expected Bea to want to talk about. Most of the times when they spoke they didn't do so over the phone, they hung out a lot anyway. But Angus hadn't expected the phone call to be an "emergency" as Bea put it.  

After hearing the story of what happened, Angus had a hard time believing what Bea was telling him. He knew she was a serious person, she wouldn't joke about something like that but it was way too hard to believe what she had told him.  

"Maybe you're just stressed, seeing things. Maybe you've worked yourself too hard." He tried but deep inside, he knew Bea was telling the truth and wasn't hallucinating. She had always been a down to earth person. But what she had told him, about seeing Mae, their good friend, covered in someone else's blood? Angus couldn't wrap his head around that. 

"I know what I saw! She was covered in this red liquid, I think it was blood!" The voice on the other end of the phone responded in a panicked tone. 

Angus sat up and grabbed for his glasses, still siting on the end table. "There's no way she would hurt someone, you know that." He said, trying to calm his friend down. Angus didn't know Mae as well as Bea probably did, but he knew she was a good human being and that she wouldn't hurt someone if she wasn't trying to protect herself or someone else. 

"Then what was she covered in? Why was she crying?" Bea said, sounding a bit annoyed Angus wasn't believing her. But how could he? The story she told him made no sense, not for him. He sighed deeply, rubbing his eyes before putting on his glasses. 

"Look, I'll wake Gregg and we'll meet up. Then we'll go to Mae's house together, though I doubt she'll be awake at this hour." He said, readjusting his glasses. Bea sighed on the other end of the phone and Angus heard her strike a lighter, probably lighting a cigarette to calm her nerves. After a while, she finally responded. 

"Alright, I'll be waiting in front of the Ol' Pickaxe. Don't keep me waiting." With that, the call ended. 

Angus sighed again as he turned his attention over to Gregg, gently trying to shake him awake. Gregg only tossed and turned, groaning in response.

“Bug, you have to get up.” He said quietly. This got Gregg’s attention as one of his eyes slightly opened and looked at him, his eyes then moved to looking out of the window.

“Cap’n? It’s still early in the morning.” He yawned sleepily, “You don’t have to go to work for another couple hours.” He gave a suggestive look as he lifted the blanket on Angus’ side. “We can do some cuddling in the meantime.” Angus could feel his cheeks heating up as he looked to the side, covering his face. At his side, he could hear Gregg snicker at the sight.

“It’s not about work,” Angus said, still covering his face. Gregg stopped snickering when he heard the seriousness in Angus’ voice.

“Is something wrong, Cap'n?” He asked worryingly as he sat up on the bed to look at his boyfriend. Angus lowered his hand, the blush had gone away but he still felt hot. He probably looked like a tomato.

“It’s about Mae,” Angus said, regretting it immediately when Gregg suddenly shot out of bed.

“Mae? What’s happened? Is she hurt?” Gregg asked, even more, worried than before. Angus cursed himself for mentioning Mae so quickly. Ever since she had that “headache” Gregg had been awfully worried about her and mentioning her in a conversation that might be seen as an “emergency” was a bad idea.

“Don’t worry Bug, Mae’s fine,” Angus said, in an attempt to try to calm Gregg down. This did not make things better, as Gregg’s mind already had begun raising.

“But what if she isn’t, Angus? Last time I saw her she was really paranoid that someone was following us! W-What if she had a right to be paranoid? What if something’s happened? Wha- what if-” Gregg’s thoughts were cut off by Angus enveloping him in a hug. Gregg hugged back tightly.

“I’m just so worried about her, Angus.” Gregg was sobbing now, digging his face into Angus’ shoulder for more comfort. Angus started patting Gregg’s back to try to comfort him. “Shhh, don’t worry. She’s fine, nothing bad has happened.” He said as he started petting Gregg’s head, planting an occasional kiss on his forehead.

This wasn’t the first time Gregg had been through this. Occasional panic attacks happened more and more frequently. Luckily, they happened often enough that Angus was used to helping Gregg through them. He kept nuzzling Gregg, whispering comforting words into his ear. Eventually, the whimpering from the fox quieted down.

Angus let go of Gregg, who wiped a tear from his eye. “Thanks, Cap’n.” Gregg smiled and Angus smiled back. “You’re right, there’s nothing to worry about.” Gregg suddenly perked up to his usual levels of energy. “Well, I better go shower before we go to meet up with Mae and Bea.” He said as he picked his jacket off the floor.

Angus nodded, “Yeah, I’ll get breakfast ready.” He started walking towards the kitchen when Gregg stopped him. “Oh, and Cap’n?” Angus stopped and turned towards the fox, “Yes, bug-” Before he could finish the sentence he was interrupted by Gregg, who pulled him into a long, passionate kiss.

Although the kiss was very surprising and out of nowhere, Angus went along with it. After a few more seconds of kissing, Gregg broke the kiss. “How about you join me in the shower? We could both use a wash, I say.” He said slyly and winked. Angus instantly blushed, “But what about Bea? She’s waiting for us.” Gregg kissed Angus again, a bit more aggressively this time. “She can wait a couple more minutes, she’s a patient lady.”

Angus shrugged, before finally letting himself get dragged away towards the shower by Gregg. Oh well, he thought. Gregg was right, Bea could wait. How much of an “emergency” could Mae’s situation be anyways?

 

***

 

Bea took a quick glance at her phone’s clock,  **7.30 AM** . She frowned as she dropped the cigarette she had been smoking on the ground and replaced it with a new one.  _ Where the hell are they? I’ve been waiting for half an hour now! _ She thought nervously as she used her lighter to light the cigarette. Bea had spent almost all of that half hour pacing around on the sidewalk, she only stopped to light up another cigarette or to check the time.

This was getting ridiculous! What the hell were they up to? Bea’s patience was starting to wear thin, normally she would’ve been at work now but she was way too worried about Mae. Something was wrong, she could tell. The way she had been acting the last couple of days was not normal behavior, not even for someone as weird as her. 

Bea took a big drag of her cigarette as she resumed her pacing. She had to do something to calm herself down and the only thing she could really do outside Mae’s house was pace. Bea stopped and looked towards the front door of the Borowski residence. She wasn’t sure if the door was locked or not, Mae’s parents had already left for work and Mae always slept for an eternity so Bea assumed it was. But, what if it wasn’t…

She quickly shook her head at the thought. No, she would not attempt a break-in. The situation wasn’t that dire… yet. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of friendly chatter coming from behind her.  _ I recognize those voices. _ She thought as she turned around, her assumptions were correct as she spotted the two ‘Lovebirds’ walking down the sidewalk towards her. Angus and Gregg, only about 20 minutes late. “Ugh, finally!” She said aloud as she started walking towards the two.

 

***

 

Mae stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around her waist. Damn, she didn’t shower often but when she did it really worked to ease her mind. In the shower, she had made up a plan. Or well, the voice in her head made up a plan- ugh, whatever!

The voice had reminded her that the body was still up there, in plain sight. And as much as Mae hated the thought of it, she would have to get rid of it. Or at least hide it, hide it somewhere where no one would ever find it. She had to act quickly though, had to get it done now. Not many people awake at this hour, that means she has less of a chance of being spotted sneaking through the town with a shovel.

If she recalled correctly, they had a shovel stashed away in the old shed. The old shed located in the backyard. All she had to do was get dressed, get the shovel, bring it with her to the woods while remaining undetected and finally bury the body or whatever.

Mae sighed. A good burial, or at least a burial. Germ deserved at least that. Mae already knew it wasn’t gonna be easy, not mentally or physically. But it was either this or possibly getting arrested for murder and even though a part of Mae felt like she deserved prison, she still couldn’t bring herself to let people know what she had done.

Not that the people in the area would be surprised, most of them would probably be happy they were right about her. That they were right about  **“Killer”** being a danger to society. She couldn’t have that, no way, no how. All those parents telling their kids: “Stay away from her, you never know when she might do it again.” Well, screw ‘em! Stupid parents brainwashing their kids, she oughta-

**“Focus, you’ve got a job to do.”** Oh yeah, the burial. Mae quickly put her shirt on again, instantly regretting the decision when she looked in the mirror. She had tried getting the blood out of the shirt with soap and water, it hadn’t really made a difference. Now the shirt was bloody AND wet if anything that just made it look even worse.

“Jeez, what a mess.” A real shame, Mae really liked that shirt. She liked it so much, she wore it every day. She wasn’t even sure if she had any other shirts that weren’t too small. Well, it couldn’t hurt to check right? She started climbing up the stairs to her room when she suddenly heard knocking. She stopped in the middle of the stairs. Was that coming from the front door?

She waited for what felt like an hour on those stairs until she finally heard it again. Yup, definitely knocking. 

“Ok, Mae. Don’t panic, just open the door and tell whoever it is you’re busy.” She said aloud, not really sure why she was talking to herself.  **“You’re still wearing a bloody shirt.”** Mae looked down as if she had forgotten about the wet, red fabric sticking to her fur like glue.  _ Oh yeah, that won’t work. _ “Crap, what do I do?”  **“My advice, sneak out through a window.”** Damn, the first good idea the voice had ever given her.

Alright, just gotta be quiet. Hmm, where’s the best window to jump from? Mae thought about it for a while.  _ Got it! Kitchen window, bottom floor! _ As quietly as she could, she started sneaking down the stairs. Praying to god whoever was standing at the door weren’t looking through the windows pointing towards the stairs.

Her prayers seemed to have been answered as she reached the bottom step without a problem. She was home free! At least, she was before she suddenly felt her legs get pulled from under her as she lost her balance and fell down the last step face planting on the hard wooden floor. “Ow.”

“Hello? Mae, are you in there?” The person behind the door said, Mae instantly recognized the voice. Crap, Bea’s finally there to check on her at the most inopportune time.  **“Run.”** Mae was quick to get to her feet, luckily it didn’t seem like she’d seriously hurt anything. That would’ve been super embarrassing.

Suddenly, the doorknob started twisting. Luckily the door was locked so no progress on opening it was made. Mae took a sigh of relief before noticing the window right next to the front door was open and someone was climbing inside.  _ “CRAP!” _

Without thinking, Mae turned around and ran towards the kitchen window. Upon reaching it, she pulled it upwards and opened it surprisingly quickly before throwing herself out in her backyard. Once she was out of the house, she ran into the shed. Scanning the many shelves for the tool she needed.  _ Rake, broom, knife. Ah, shovel! _ Without hesitation, she grabbed ahold of the shovel and turned around to run.

On her way out of the shed, she managed to knock over a couple of tools but she didn’t care. She had to hurry, time was running out. She had to bury the body before people found it if people were to start asking where Germ went she could just make an excuse. She could just tell everyone he hopped a train, just like Casey.

_ Yeah, just like Casey. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait time. I've been really busy with school and personal stuff, I've barely had any time to write anything. I'm also a master at procrastinating! But finally, chapter 9 is complete. I'll do my best to start working on chapter 10 quick so it actually gets done quicker than this one.
> 
> Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoyed reading and I'll see you guys in chapter 10!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang keeps searching for Mae but in the completely wrong place. Meanwhile, Mae has a confrontation by the mines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a couple months huh?  
> Sorry, I have no excuse except for blaming my own procrastinating. Oh well, it's here now! Chapter 10.  
> Shit starts to hit the fan the next chapters, so get ready for that.  
> Enjoy!

**Chapter 10:**

By now, Trekking through the woods had become quite obnoxious. If it wouldn’t have been for the dead body she had to bury, she would’ve rather turned around. In reality, Mae wanted nothing more than to forget what had happened. From the point, she found that godforsaken mine, to when she lost control and… Mae’s eyes started watering again, but she clenched her teeth and forced herself to keep walking.

_ You’re gonna be fine, Mae. Just get to the mine, dig a grave and give Germ the send-off he deserves. _

**No one must know what happened. No one!**

_ No one will know. _

Mae knew what she was doing was wrong. Hell, it was beyond any wrong-ness she had ever performed. 

But, it still felt like the only option. Sure, it went against any morals but she didn’t want to get into trouble for something she really had no control over.

_ It wasn’t my fault, I never wanted to hurt him. I-I would never hurt any of my friends! _

**You think anyone would believe that story if they found out about what you did? That’s everyone’s excuse! ‘I never wanted to hurt him, officer! You have to believe me!’ No one’s going to buy that! Face it, this is the only way.**

_ You’re right, I have to do this. _

Upon finally reaching the spot, Mae was nervously wringing the shovel in her hands. She vowed never to come back here, yet here she was. Back at the mine, the one place in Possum Springs that didn’t hold any good memories to her.

Mae slid down the small dirt hill and sighed heavily upon reaching the bottom. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Walking towards the entrance of the mine, Mae spotted the body exactly where she had left it (duh). She stopped in front of it and forced herself to look down.

**Yep, definitely dead. Can we get this over with? You still have a lot of time before your friends search for you here, but it’s better to be on the safe side.**

Mae could feel herself tear up again. All that damage to Germ’s skull was her fault, her and those stupid shapes.

**You mean, ‘only those stupid shapes’? Don’t blame yourself for what happened, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Come on now, get to digging.**

Mae suddenly felt anxiety wash over her. She couldn’t do this! What the hell was she thinking? No way she was just going to casually kill her friend and then bury him to cover her tracks! She threw the shovel to the ground in frustration as she started wailing.

“I can’t do it! I won’t do it!” As soon as the words left Mae’s mouth, she felt a familiar headache overtake her as the voice in her head suddenly changed to the one from the creature in the mine.

**You will, you must! If you don’t, I’ll make you!**

The sudden change from her own voice to the one of the beast in the cave surprised and terrified Mae, yet she held her ground. “No, I won’t! Y-you can’t make me!”, she screamed back at the voice, pressing her paws over her ears to try to close the voice out. It laughed mockingly before it spoke again.

**Oh, but I can. I don’t want to hurt you, ms. borowski. But if you don’t obey me, that’s just what is going to happen.**

Mae was beyond scared of the being that was talking to her, and it didn’t sound like someone or something to make empty threats. “Alright, alright! I’ll do it!” She gave in, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. She hated surrendering when she knew she could win, but this thing had full control over her and it was dangerous.

**Good, now you should get to work before someone finds you here.**

Mae sighed as she picked the shovel off the ground and walked away from the mine, looking for a good place to dig a hole that would serve as a shallow grave. Finally, she found a spot that she deemed good enough. She put the shovel into the ground, the dirt was hard and would require lots of work to dig through. It was time to get to work.

 

***

 

Great, after pretty much breaking and entering Mae’s house, she wasn’t even there to begin with. Though, her parents weren’t either, which was a good thing.

“Aw, man. We’ve looked all over the house, where could she have gone off to?” Gregg cried as he walked down the stairs for the fifth time since they arrived.

“I thought we already came to that conclusion the first three times you checked every room in the house,” Bea said, shaking her head.

“Hm, where else could she have gone to then?” Angus asked thoughtfully. The trio stayed quiet for a while thinking. Who knew the most about where Mae hung out? Angus and Bea looked at each other, then they both turned to look at Gregg who looked back and forth between them with a confused look.

“What? I don’t know where she is!” Gregg yelled with a voice loud enough to make others question whether he’d been blamed for a crime he didn’t commit.

“You must know something!” Bea thought for a moment. “Where do you usually do your crimes?” She added.

Gregg seemed slightly surprised by the question. “Are you thinking about committing crimes, Bea?” He said with a sly smirk on his face. Bea groaned loudly and facepalmed. Angus was doing his best to hold back a snicker while listening to this argument.

After a while, Bea finally spoke up again. “No Gregg, it’s to find Mae,” she said matter-of-factly as she started getting a dummy cigarette out of her pocket. “If we search the place you guys usually commit crimes at, we could probably find her there,” She put the dummy cigarette in her mouth and put the package back in her pocket. “Probably.”

Gregg looked back and forth between the two again. “But that’s confidential information!” Angus and Bea started squinting their eyes, glaring at Gregg. After a while, he put his paws up in defeat. “Alright, alright! Let me think…” He stood thoughtfully for a moment before snapping his fingers. “The abandoned glass factory! I guarantee she’s there!”

Bea sighed with relief, happy to have finally gotten an answer out of Gregg. Angus, however, didn’t seem as happy. Though, he didn’t look angry either. He looked at Gregg with a stern look. “Gregg, have you been hanging around the abandoned glass factory again?”

Gregg froze under Angus’ glare as he tried to hide his guilt and find a viable explanation. “Uh, well you see-” Gregg was interrupted by Bea, who was already climbing out of the window. “You guys mind saving that for later? Let’s go search for Mae!”

Angus and Gregg looked at each other for a moment. Then Gregg smiled and shrugged before following Bea out the window. Angus waited until he had climbed out before sighing and following close behind. Once out on the street, the trio started making their way towards the glass factory.

 

***

 

“Ugh, I’m never digging a hole EVER again!” Mae said, throwing the shovel from the hole she had recently dug (and was currently in). Who could’ve known digging a hole through dirt would be so hard?

She clenched her paws together in frustration only to wince in pain. Looking at her paws, she noticed the blisters that had appeared all over them.  _ Well, that’s just what I needed. _ Not only that, her muscles were aching as well.

**Is the hole deep enough?**

Mae looked around her. The hole was deep enough to be exactly up to her neck and even though she would be considered to be below the average height, she still assumed it was deep enough by hole standards.

She nodded to herself in satisfaction before grabbing onto the edge of the hole and, with difficulty, pulling herself out.  _ Now for the hardest part. _ She thought to herself as she started making her way back to the mine’s entrance.

 

***

 

“So, are we sure she’ll be here?” Bea said as the trio stopped in front of the glass factory.

Bea hadn’t really stopped to look at the factory in front of her before, and she was a bit amazed at how big it was. Almost all of the factory’s windows had been smashed and Bea guessed some of them had been destroyed by the two crime-lovers she often hung with. 

She looked over at Angus to see his reaction and noticed he seemed pretty stoic about the whole thing. Instead, he opted to keep an eye on his boyfriend who seemed to be checking the outside of the factory for a bit too long then would be needed. After a while, Angus expressed his concerns.

"Gregg, how about we check the inside of the building?" He paused for a second, before rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I doubt she'll be outside, or inside that trash can." Gregg stopped his rummaging in the said trash can and smiled gingerly. "Hehe, of course."

He walked over to Angus' side as he turned towards Bea. "You sure you don't want to follow us inside?"

Bea shook her head dismissively. "No thank you, I'll keep guard out here." She grinned slightly. "Last I heard, entering the glass factory was against the law." Gregg smiled brightly at Angus as he gasped, his eyes practically glittering.

"Cap'n! You're doing crimes!" He said, a bit too loud for the other's liking. Angus sighed, but he still couldn't help but smile at his boyfriend. 

"I wouldn't exactly call this a crime, bug." He laughed and put his arm around Gregg as they started walking inside, their voices gradually fading from Bea's hearing.

Bea snickered at the couple before taking a cigarette out of her pocket. No need for a dummy cigarette now that she was outside and Mae wasn't around to chastise her about it.

She stopped short before lighting the cigarette. "Mae..." She said under her breath. "Where are you, Mae?" Suddenly, she felt bad about lighting the cigarette and instead decided to take it out of her mouth and put it back in her pocket. It didn't feel right to smoke when she knew Mae wouldn't have liked it.

Damn, she'd better not mention this to Mae when they find her. Otherwise, she would tease her into another dimension. "If we find her..." Bea shook her head. No, they were going to find her. All of this, her disappearance has a good, nonviolent explanation. _ But last you saw her she was covered in blood. _ Bea shook her head again.  _ Shut up brain. _

She rummaged through her pockets until she found the dummy cigarette. She wasn’t going to smoke a real one out of respect for Mae but she still needed something to chew on, and she didn’t have any gum so it would do.

 

***

 

After climbing out of the hole, Mae made her way to where she left Germ’s body. However, when she reached the location of the body she noticed movement in the trees. She stopped and looked over to where she saw something move. However, there was nothing. “Just my imagination.” She said to herself as she turned towards the body.

That’s when she heard a noise, coming from the trees.  _ Maybe it’s just an animal.  _ She stopped and listened intently. She heard the frequent rustling of leaves and sticks cracking, no small animal could make so much noise.

She quickly felt around in her pocket for her gun, once she felt the grip she pulled it out. Turning around, she aimed the gun at the source of the noise, it quieted down once again. “Whoever’s out there, come out with your hands up!” Mae tried to sound intimidating, but even then the nervousness in her voice could probably be heard by whoever was in the bushes.

After a while, Mae stopped holding her breath and considered on whether she should shout again. But before she had time to do so, the bushes parted as a figure walked out. It was a tall person wearing a dark cloak, their face was hidden behind a hood. Mae felt intimidated by the figure as it started walking towards her.

“I-I said stay back!” She stammered out, she waved the gun at it hoping it would stop in fear of being shot. But, it kept advancing. Mae finally fired a warning shot into the ground in front of the figure, this seemed to finally slow its advance. With the feeling of having the slightest bit of control over the creature, Mae spoke again. “Who are you?” She asked.

She didn’t expect the figure to give a viable response, but to her surprise, they answered her question. “Who I am is not important, what is important is who you will become.” They said matter of factly.

Mae felt herself getting frustrated, why does everyone love to talk like fortune cookies? “Okay, who am I to become then?” She said, anger in her voice.

The figure peeked behind her and looked at Germ’s body as if they had known it was there. Mae cursed under her breath. She didn’t want to have to shoot this person, they didn’t deserve it. then again Germ hadn’t deserved it either.

After what felt like an eternity, the figure finally spoke up. “He is asking for you. The time is now.” The figure’s response only seemed to piss Mae off, even more, she felt so frustrated she started seeing red. She could almost feel herself wanting to pull the trigger as if it was out of her control.

“Who is asking for me?” Mae said, squeezing the trigger slightly.  _ Give me one more fortune cookie response,  _ **_try me_ ** _!  _ Mae could feel her hands shaking, a part of her was confused and asking herself why she was so angry. The other part of her just wanted to pull the trigger.

The figure seemed to notice the rage in Mae’s voice and Mae could’ve sworn they were smiling behind the hood. After a while of nothing, they finally responded.

“The Black Goat.”


End file.
